Thirty-Five Smiles to Forgiveness
by Advocaat
Summary: (Cell Aftermath) Videl could unequivocally pinpoint the exact moment her life began to change. It was the day she met a lonely boy in the woods.
1. Chapter One

Hello, boys and girls, ladies and gents, plants and zombies, and everything in between. It has been a very, very, very long time since I've written anything for DBZ (we're talking like sixteen years) and I might be a little rusty, but watching the season finale of Team Four Star's DBZ Abridged put me in the mood to write a little something-something and today I bring you the first part of a fic I wrote over the past two weeks.

This story takes place following the conclusion of the Cell Saga and acts as sort of an alternate, what-if-there-was-no-Buu-saga continuation of the series. This isn't to say that I wasn't extremely entertained by the Buu Saga, but I wanted to give Gohan's character and the aftermath of Cell the gravity they deserved. That was really my only motivation for writing this. (That, and I wanted to play around with Videl's character a bit.)

Welp, that's about all from me. This story is actually complete already and I'll be posting chapters as I edit them. I wanted it to be a oneshot, but as usually happens with me, that didn't quite work out so I'll be splitting the story up as I go.

* * *

Thirty-Five Smiles to Forgiveness

...

 **Chapter One  
** The Boy Who Stares at the Sky

Videl could unequivocally pinpoint the exact moment her life began to change. It was the day she met a lonely boy in the woods.

The day had been overcast. It was the sort of day which comes and goes without much note. Pale clouds obscured the sky, muting the vibrancy of nature's majesty—not dark enough to promise rain but lacking the easygoing cheer of the sun. Videl and her father were in a small city a few miles East of Orange Star City. Or rather, Videl had to remind herself, Satan City now.

It had been five months since the defeat of the calamity known as Cell. Having become the most respected man in the world, her father was often called upon to make statements at important events, and as his daughter, Videl frequently accompanied him. This day had been precisely one such day. Her father had been invited to give a speech to the graduates of a local university and Videl had tagged along to affirm his popular image as a family man.

She stood nearby dutifully as he gave his speech and graced the auditorium with a smile when he'd joked about her attending the university in the future. It was a line he dropped at every college they visited and by now her reaction was automatic. After the ceremony, her father stuck around to sign autographs and Videl knew that following the autograph session he would be invited by the faculty to join them for drinks—the school's treat, of course. The routine was the same at every university they visited. Her father would give her a handful of zeni for supper and send her back to their hotel to await his return. Lather, rinse, repeat.

That day, however, Videl didn't feel like going straight to the hotel. It would be many hours before her dad would return and she didn't relish sitting alone in an overpriced suite room waiting for him. So, instead of returning to the hotel as instructed, Videl decided to do a little exploring.

The city wasn't large. It was really more of a glorified town situated at the edge of a mountain range and it didn't hold much to attract an eleven-year-old. Videl quickly grew bored of wandering the streets and turned her sights instead to the mountains. Even though it wasn't a particularly nice day, Videl was compelled to do a bit of hiking. So it was, she left the town behind and headed up the mountain.

There were no paths to follow and the foliage was dense and difficult to navigate but Videl stubbornly pressed on. It was this or boredom and she was well and truly sick of being bored. She continued to hike upward for a good hour and the further she walked the easier it became to maneuver in the thick underbrush. It wasn't often that she was able to enjoy nature so raw and untamed and she found herself enjoying the fresh scent of soil and the soft dragging of leaves on her skin as she pushed through branches and hopped over the occasional fallen tree.

Living in the city, it was easy to get swept up in the controlled chaos of society and the convenience of technology and forget the quiet power of the green earth that fed them life. Now that she was alone and surrounded by it, Videl could appreciate the solemn energy that filled the forest and she took some time to bask in it. There were spirits here. The forest had a lifeforce all its own which welcomed and beckoned her. Videl, young and daring and inquisitive as she was, obeyed its summons.

Her trek took her over the crest of a low ridge and deposited her in a sort of miniature glade surrounded by spiky evergreens. Here, the colorless veil of clouds had parted just slightly to allow a shaft of sunlight to fill the small clearing with golden light. Near the center of the glade was a fallen log upon which sat the last thing Videl expected to encounter so deep in the wilderness.

A boy was perched atop the mossy trunk, his right knee held to his chest by interlocked fingers and his face turned toward the sky. He wore a simple white changshan with black pants and black shoes and his hair was a curious pale blond that swayed gently in the light breeze. Videl's breath caught when she saw him. Under the single shaft of sunlight, he appeared ethereal, like an angel from a painting. He must have been close to her own age but his features had a softness that made his face seem almost timeless.

He turned from his vigilance of the sky to look at her when she entered and her gaze was immediately drawn to his eyes. They were the color of the mountains meeting the sea. All at once, she had a feeling like she'd seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't put her finger on where.

"Uh, hi," she uttered awkwardly, stepping forward out of the trees so that it didn't seem so much like she was spying on him. "I wasn't expecting to find anyone else all the way out here." She twined her fingers together uncertainly as she waited to see how he would react to her.

She read confusion on his face at her presence. Clearly, he was just as surprised as her to see another person on this mountain.

"Um…" she spoke again when it looked like he wasn't going to say anything. She wasn't sure what to say herself. Perhaps she should just leave. She was probably bothering him. "Sorry," she apologized. "You probably came out here to be alone and I'm disturbing you. I'll go."

She twirled around and made to find a new hiking path but she was stopped when he spoke.

"Hold on," he called. His voice was a little gravelly, as if he hadn't used it in a while, but his tone was kind. She turned back around to regard him curiously and he continued. "I'm sorry. You just surprised me. I don't usually see girls in the mountains." He brought a hand up to rub the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

Videl studied him appraisingly for a moment and then made the decision to leave the tree line behind and approach him. In response, he hopped down from his log with a soft, "Hup," and held a polite hand out to her. "I'm Gohan," he introduced. "And you are?"

Videl was a little caught off guard by his formality. She wasn't accustomed to sharing handshakes with people her own age but she grasped his hand all the same and answered, "Videl."

The two children shook once and then released. Videl noted that Gohan's grip was quite firm and the skin of his palm and fingers was thick and calloused in the same places as hers. She looked down at her own hand briefly and flexed it once before returning her gaze to the boy in front of her. "You… Gohan," she spoke again. "Are you a martial artist?"

It was a rather blunt and forward question to ask someone she'd just met, but Videl had never been one to mince words.

Gohan's teal eyes widened in surprise but then his eyebrows fell low and he glanced away almost guiltily. "Not really," he answered. "I don't like fighting."

Videl's brow scrunched up in confusion and she pointed to his hand. "But you can, right?" she pressed. "You can't fool me. You have the hands of a fighter." She moved in closer and made a show of inspecting his face. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before, too. Your face is familiar."

Gohan's cheeks flushed at her face's proximity to his own and he stepped backward to put some distance between them. He scratched the back of his head again and Videl surmised that this was his nervous habit. "Sorry, but I don't think we've met. I have a pretty good memory for faces."

Videl continued to scowl at him skeptically for a short time before finally backing down. "If you say so." She returned to her previous position and Gohan let out an audible breath of relief. "So, then, Gohan," she tried a different avenue of conversation. "What are you doing all the way out here in the mountains? Do you live out here or something?"

Gohan shook his head. "No, I'm just passing through," he confessed.

"Passing through, huh?" She cocked her head to the side and crossed her arms over her chest as she considered this. "Does that mean you're headed somewhere?"

To her confusion, Gohan merely shrugged and looked back at the sky. The clouds had yet to shift and the single shaft of sunlight bathed his face as if the lone beam were meant specifically for him. Videl had never met a boy so odd. He seemed less like a product of human society and more as if he were a part of the very forest itself. She didn't believe in auras, but he gave off a feeling of otherness, like he somehow existed outside the world she was a part of. It made her feel a little uneasy because she couldn't tell which of them was out of place here.

"So…what? You're just wandering?" She was getting a little tired of throwing question after question at him. Did this boy want to participate in conversation or not? "Don't tell me you're homeless."

Her father had warned her not to talk to vagrants. He said they were always after something. Videl didn't think Gohan was the sort of person he'd been referring to, but she supposed being a kid all alone in the woods made him some kind of a weirdo regardless.

Gohan chuckled as if she'd said something funny. He quickly shook his head. "No, nothing like that. I don't have a destination but I'm not really wandering either. I just…like being outside. I feel connected out here."

 _Connected to what?_ Videl wanted to ask, but she didn't. This kid was already strange and she had a feeling that whatever answer he gave would only make him seem stranger. Really, she probably shouldn't be talking to him. He was some oddball kid in the woods and she was the daughter of Hercule Satan, the world's savior. There was no reason to waste her time on a country bumpkin.

And yet, Videl didn't leave. Something about Gohan was magnetic. She liked the way he focused his whole attention on her and let her direct the conversation. He clearly didn't know who she was and she found she was in no hurry to tell him. As the daughter of the world champion, it wasn't often that she was treated like just another person. Perhaps it was for this reason that she deigned to continue their conversation, asking, "Don't you have any friends? It must get lonely wandering around in the mountains all by yourself."

She supposed the question could be interpreted as being rude, but Gohan didn't seem to take it that way. Rather, he appeared surprised by it. He raised his chin and placed a hand under it thoughtfully. Apparently, it was a question that garnered consideration, though Videl couldn't personally conceive of it being a difficult thing to answer. "Friends… huh…" he thought out loud.

Videl's brow furrowed again. Seriously, what a strange boy. "You know, people your age who you enjoy hanging out with?" she prompted. Surely, he had friends. Everybody had friends.

He lowered his hand and his eyes fell downward to meet her own once again. He was no longer smiling but he wasn't frowning either. His face was neutral. To her immense surprise, he shook his head. "Well, I do have friends, but they're more like family friends. If you mean solely in the sense of people my own age, then I guess I don't have any."

Videl's mouth opened in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could there be a person who didn't have friends? She herself preferred to keep a small friend group but she at least had Erasa and Sharpner. "Are you serious?" she demanded. "Not even one? You're joking!"

Gohan shook his head. "'Fraid not," he said easily. "I haven't had much occasion to meet people my own age. But it's alright. I don't mind."

Videl shook her own head violently. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No, no, no! That's all wrong. You can't just not have friends! What about birthday parties? What about going to the mall and seeing movies? Don't tell me you spend all your free time just sitting in the woods by yourself?"

Gohan watched her get worked up with wide eyes. Clearly, he didn't understand what the big deal was. He crossed his arms over his chest and seemed to think for a moment as he watched her, then, all at once, he dropped his arms and without changing his expression asked, "Then…will you be my friend?"

Videl sputtered in surprise. "Huh?" she asked inarticulately.

Gohan just smiled and repeated, "Would you like to become friends?"

Alright, so she had heard him correctly. She gathered her wits and gave him an incredulous look. "You want me to become friends with some random kid I found in the forest? Are you nuts?"

Gohan's smile didn't falter. "Well, sure," he answered matter-of-factly. "It's not like there's any kind of special process to becoming friends, right? You just do it."

Videl was floored. Seriously, Gohan was the most space-brained, oddball kid she'd ever met. He wasn't anything like any of the other boys she knew. Maybe he really did come from a different world. Perhaps she'd stumbled upon some mystical forest gateway between dimensions.

Gohan pulled her from her musings by holding his hand out to her once more. "What do you say?" he prompted. "Friends?"

Videl could have turned around and marched right out of that weird clearing with its equally weird kook of an occupant. It's what she'd normally do on any other occasion. But despite his strangeness, Videl was intrigued by the lonely boy in the woods. Something told her that by taking his hand, a new path would open in her life. This was one of those chance encounters you see in movies and read about in books. If she walked away, her life would carry on the way it always had, but if she took his hand; agreed to be his friend; her horizons would broaden just that little bit. It would take her one step away from normal—one more step from the vapid, silly kids at her school and into a larger world full of mysteries.

She took his hand.


	2. Chapter Two

Wowzer! I got some hot notes on the first chapter and I gotta say I really wasn't expecting that. (I wonder if all of you are here because of TFSA like me.) I'm super happy you all liked the intro so much. It seems like I'm not the only one who was thirsty for a little post-Cell GV. ;)

 **To** **Iwik** : Haha! I didn't even notice the Calamity Cell thing. You're right, I must still have BotW on the brain.

Also, to be clear, this story is not going to be thirty-five chapters. It's fairly long, but it's not THAT long. Yikes.

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

"I'm worried."

Krillin looked up from the expensive new watch he was polishing. A few feet away, Piccolo stood at the edge of the riverbank. The two of them had just been to visit Gohan and Chichi in order to check in and see if there was anything the pair needed. The tall Namekian hadn't moved his gaze from the river.

"You're worried? About what?" Krillin asked hesitantly. His heart rate accelerated just slightly out of habit. Piccolo verbalizing concern was never a good sign.

He looked around, taking in the peaceful scenery—the trees rustling in the gentle early spring breeze and the birds twittering merrily away as they chased each other in the air. Nothing seemed out of place that he could see.

"About Gohan," the stoic man answered. This time he pivoted around to look down at Krillin over crossed arms.

Krillin blinked back at him. "About Gohan?" he repeated with some surprise. "What about him?"

Piccolo made a deep, rumbling sound in his throat. His expression was as hard as ever but Krillin could read a tiny flicker of his professed concern in the wrinkle of his brow. "I don't think he's taking Goku's death well."

Krillin crossed his arms over his chest and raised a black eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He thought back to their visit just twenty minutes prior. Gohan had been perfectly cheerful. He'd excitedly told them about the brother he had on the way and how he'd been helping his mom to prepare a room for his arrival. Chichi had proudly told them all about how far Gohan had come in his schooling and how diligent he was, studying every day and passing all his assessment exams with flying colors. Despite the loss of their husband and father, the mother-son duo appeared in every way happy and well-adjusted. "If you ask me, he took Goku's death far better than I'd have expected. I mean, when you consider what all went down that day…"

Piccolo's ever-present frown deepened. "He's not training," he said bluntly.

Krillin's mouth formed an oh of understanding. Now he saw what Piccolo was concerned about. The short man smiled and shrugged, not seeing a problem with that himself. "Well, y'know, it's not like anything's threatening the Earth at the moment and honestly, the kid deserves a break. Besides, I doubt there's anything out there stronger than Cell. Gohan's more than a match for just about any baddy that could conceivably pop up, so I think it's fine if he wants to be a little lax in his training regimen, you know what I mean?"

Piccolo's eyes narrowed and his lips thinned. He didn't appear assuaged. "You don't understand," he growled roughly. "He's not just taking a break. I don't think he has any intention of fighting again."

 _This_ got Krillin's attention. "Wait, you mean he's, like, quit martial arts?" he asked disbelievingly. "No way. I'm sure that's not the case." He crossed his arms thoughtfully. "I mean, why would he?"

The tall green alien looked down at him as if he were daft. "Gohan's never liked fighting. And the last time he fought, he got his father killed. You saw what he became during that fight. He doesn't trust himself not to lose control like that again."

Krillin's eyebrows knit together. Suddenly, a small tendril of doubt was taking root within him. "You think?"

Piccolo inclined his head in a nod. "And what's more, he's been going off alone lately to visit places where he and Goku travelled together before the battle with Cell." He sighed and shook his head slowly. "It's clear what he's doing. He's punishing himself."

Krillin averted his gaze to the ground. "Gosh, you really think so?" He didn't want to believe that Gohan was still beating himself up about what happened. Nobody blamed him and they'd all made that very clear. Even Goku had assured his son that he was fine in otherworld and told him not to grieve. Hell, he'd asked them _not_ to wish him back. If Gohan was still blaming himself after all that then Krillin didn't know what to do to knock him out of it. "Well, it could just be that he needs time. It's a lot to swallow for a kid his age. I'm sure he'll come around."

Piccolo grunted and turned around again to stare off across the river. "A lot to swallow when the father you spent your whole childhood hoping to spend time with chooses to stay dead," he muttered lowly. He closed his eyes and exhaled a dry huff before opening them again and looking up at the sky. "Goku, you absolute fool."

o0o

* * *

Gohan, Videl quickly learned, was strange in many more ways than she'd first expected.

It had been two weeks now since she'd first met him, and in that time, she'd learned a bit more about him. He apparently lived in the 439 East District around the area of Mt. Paozu and he spent his free time wandering the countryside. Because of this, he knew of lots of cool places and he'd taken her on several adventures to his favorite spots.

When they'd first parted ways, Videl hadn't known if she'd ever see Gohan again. After all, neither of them lived in the vicinity of the area where they'd met and Satan City was a long way from Mt. Paozu, but Gohan had been committed to becoming friends and he'd seen to it that they'd be able to meet up whenever she wanted to.

Gohan was by far the oddest person Videl had ever met. He knew the mountains like the back of his hand but he professed to know very little about human cities. Despite this, he was apparently very well-travelled. He'd mentioned having friends as far as West City and he'd even said he spent a year in the South near Mt. Frypan when he was little. When he showed her around the mountains south of Satan City, she noticed that animals didn't run from him and the larger beasts she'd been warned to stay clear of her whole life didn't bother him. It was as if he was one with the forest, completely integrated into its way of life and untouchable.

At first, Videl had been hesitant about going off alone with him—afraid to catch his weirdness—but as time passed she began finding more and more excuses to spend time with him. He showed her sparkling mountain lakes that were good for swimming and broad rivers where enormous fish lived and even the nesting grounds of dinosaurs. He was able to tell her all about the curious fauna and flora of the region in scientific terms and he taught her how to hold a baby dilloraptor and how to tickle an inkshroom just right to make it shoot a cloud of black spores. He didn't seem to know anything about malls or arcades or theaters but she found she didn't mind. Gohan was different, but that wasn't a bad thing.

Occasionally, though, he would act in ways she couldn't comprehend. He would hear a sound like a twig snapping and stiffen, his eyes widening to stare at something she couldn't see. They'd pass a tree full of birds and he'd stop and stare at them for minutes at a time. She'd turn around in the midst of talking about something inane and find his eyes turned toward the sky. He was definitely a space-case, so different from any other kid she'd met that sometimes she struggled to think of him as the same species, but this only served to make her more curious about him.

In just two weeks, Videl had found a new mission in life. To learn as much as she could about the odd forest boy known as Gohan. He was a challenge, and there was nothing Videl relished more than a good challenge.

o0o

The black haired, blue-eyed daughter of the world's savior cursed as her foot slid on the angled surface of the rock she'd been attempting to use as a stepping stone. Her boots didn't have the tread for romping through the mountains and she'd stumbled more than a few times. An arm shot out and caught her before setting her safely back on her feet.

"Thanks," she grunted. Normally, her pride would've caused her to snap at anyone who tried to help her, but the boy at her side never got cocky about assisting her and she couldn't really be upset with him about being able to navigate the rocky terrain better than her when he spent all his time in places like this and she very much didn't.

The blond boy nodded and offered her a hand to help her across the craggy area which she refused. She appreciated the thought, but she was determined to make it across on her own.

Today, they were going to a place that he claimed was good for training, since she'd told him she was a martial artist. Videl was hoping she could get him to show her a little of what he could do at the same time.

They finally found the place roughly thirty minutes after her near fall and Videl inspected it critically. Just as Gohan said, it was indeed a fine place for training. It was open with hardpacked earth and there was a little stream nearby that she could cool off in if needed. She nodded in approval and left Gohan behind to take a look around. As she explored the area, she called back to her companion. "Do you train here often?"

Gohan shrugged. "I used to come here with my dad sometimes." He paused for a second and then corrected himself. "Well, we came here a couple times."

Videl noted the slightly downcast way in which he'd said this but said nothing. She wondered if his father was like hers; too busy to spend a lot of time with his child. It would explain why he spent so much time wandering the mountains alone.

She stopped looking around and began to stretch. She was eager to get started. She never trained outdoors and she was finding she enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her back and the wind in her hair. Gohan stood by and watched her warm up with a small smile.

"Hey," she called to him. "Aren't you going to join me? Don't think I came all the way out here just to train by myself. You've gotta do it too."

Gohan's eyes went large and he pointed to himself. "Me? But I already told you that I don't fight."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Don't be a wuss. It's not like I'm planning to spar with you so you've got nothing to worry about." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a capsule. She tossed it onto the ground and a red sandbag popped out with a _poof_. She patted it fondly. "We'll be using this today."

Gohan looked at the sandbag and then back at her and scrunched up his face in confusion.

Videl smirked. "I'm the champion of the junior division of the World Martial Arts Tournament. I'm not so mean as to fight a kid who just dabbles. You could get seriously hurt." To demonstrate, she swung her foot at the sandbag in a powerful roundhouse and the bag swayed dangerously under the force of the impact. She took great pride in being stronger than she looked.

Gohan watched the bag right itself with a thud and smiled brightly. "Wow, Videl. You're pretty strong."

Videl nodded proudly. She then beckoned him forward with a tilt of her chin. "Now, come on. Let's see what you can do."

Gohan sighed in defeat and walked over. Videl moved to the side as he got into position in front of the bag. He took a moment to examine the piece of equipment critically as if assessing it and then dropped into a back stance. As she watched, he took a deep breath and exhaled and then suddenly his eyes narrowed and his foot shot out at the bag. The first thing Videl noted was that his form was quite good. Far better than someone who merely dabbled. So was his speed. The top of his foot connected with the bag and the bag tilted, threatening to topple. Gohan dropped his foot and reached out to steady it before it could succumb to gravity and fall on its side.

Videl's eyes shot wide open and her jaw dropped. That he was able to hit the bag with enough power to topple it blew her away. That was her heaviest bag. Most people couldn't even get it to budge. Even her dad's best students were only able to make it wobble a little. "Gohan, that was amazing!" she cried, moving forward to grab his hand. "I can't believe you made it tip over. That's really impressive."

Gohan's cheeks flushed and he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "Um, thank you," he said humbly.

Videl shook her head. "No, really," she pressed. "You're, like, really strong. If you can match that strength with skill, you might actually have a chance against me." Videl had never encountered another person her age who could stand on her level and the thought that Gohan might be able to excited her. She'd been looking for a strong opponent and at last it seemed she'd found one.

Gohan pulled away and shook his head. "I'm really not that great," he protested. "I'm nothing compared to my dad, and I don't really enjoy fighting. I only learned to do it because I was made to."

Videl eyed him oddly, not understanding. "What's not to like?" she asked, genuinely dumbfounded. "The feeling of accomplishment when you grow stronger, the thrill of testing your abilities against skilled opponents, the never-ending climb to achieve ever greater heights… It's what I live for!"

Gohan's normally cheerful face seemed to dim right in front of her eyes. She thought she would inspire him with her enthusiasm but instead it had the opposite effect. He looked her in the eye and in a serious tone she'd never heard him use before, said, "And what happens when you get to the top? When you realize there's no more ladder left to climb? If you live only to fight stronger opponents, where do you go when they run out?"

Videl's enthusiasm crumbled in the face of her friend's questions. She didn't know how to answer him. As good as she was, the thought that she could reach a point where there was nobody left who was better than her wasn't a notion she could really conceive of. There was _always_ someone better. It was just a matter of finding them. That's what she believed, anyway. But if there really was a point where you became the strongest and there was no one left who could challenge you, what then?

"Well," she started, still chewing it over. "I guess the question then would be what you could do with all that strength. I mean, there's lots of things, right? You could fight crime; use your power to bring peace to the world. It's not like achieving your dream means your life is over. It's no reason to throw in the towel."

Gohan's eyes widened. He seemed to be thinking hard about what she'd said. His eyes turned to the sky and he muttered, "Throw in the towel… That's not what you did, right?"

Videl didn't know who he thought he was talking to but she didn't question him. Being weird was what made Gohan Gohan, after all.

o0o

* * *

"Yes, hi, Bulma. It's Chichi."

The blue haired scientist's face brightened at the voice on the other line. It had been a while since she last talked to the younger woman and she'd been meaning to check in on her. She had another son on the way, after all. That was going to mean a pretty big change for her and Gohan. "Hey, Chichi. How's the pregnancy? I've been meaning to call."

"Just fine, thank you," was the other woman's response. "Not much longer now. I'm still deciding whether to call a midwife or go to a hospital. It's going to be a shock either way."

Bulma chuckled. She knew firsthand how medical staff reacted to delivering a baby with a monkey tail. Perhaps she could get Chichi set up with the doctor who had delivered Trunks. At least she would be prepared.

"Anyway," Chichi continued. "I was just calling to see if you'd seen Gohan. He's been spending a lot of time off on his own and I was wondering if he'd been coming around yours. He's at _that age_ , you know. I'm sure he's got questions he isn't comfortable asking his mother and as the only other Saiyan around I figured he might go to Vegeta."

Bulma's eyebrows shot up at this. She hadn't really thought about it but Chichi had a point. Gohan would be both of their first experience with Saiyan puberty. It made sense that he'd want to go to someone who could answer his questions. A part of her couldn't believe Gohan was really at that age already. To her, he'd always be Goku's little boy.

Unfortunately for Chichi, she hadn't seen Gohan at all in nearly two months. Wherever he was, he wasn't around West City. "Sorry, but I haven't seen him. Do you want me to send the boys out looking?"

Chichi sighed. "No, that's all right. I'm sure he'll be home soon. He's never been late for his studies. I just wanted to check in and see if you knew anything."

Bulma nodded even though the other woman couldn't see her. "Well, I'll keep an eye out for him. It's been a while so he's bound to drop by eventually. Take care, Chichi, and let me know if there's anything I can do to help with the baby."

"Yes, thank you. I'll be in touch. Bye, Bulma."

The line shut off with a soft click and Bulma set the phone back on its charging dock. So, Gohan had been going off on his own. In her experience, that usually meant one of three things. Either A: he felt like he needed space from his family—which to Bulma seemed rather unlikely considering it was Gohan they were dealing with—B: he'd shacked up with a new crowd—also unlikely—or C: he'd met a girl. At least, these would be the expected culprits were Gohan your average kid. But knowing Gohan, probably the more likely explanation for his disappearances was that he'd found a new group of dino buddies in the woods to play with. She chuckled as she left the kitchen behind to return to her lab. "I wonder if that counts as shacking up with a new crowd?" she joked to herself as she grabbed a screwdriver and shuffled back over to her workbench to resume tinkering with an old oscilloscope.


	3. Chapter Three

Hey again, my dudes. Back with another chapter. Thanks a ton for the nice comments on chapter one.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

"Wow! I can see all of Satan City from up here!"

Videl grinned and shaded her eyes from the sun as she stood on a thick branch near the top of a centuries old conifer. She was at lease a hundred feet up and the view was amazing.

"Careful, Videl!" Gohan called from the ground. His large, blue-green eyes were tinted with concern.

Videl beamed down at him, entirely unworried. She had confidence in her climbing. "Get up here, Gohan!" she called back down to him. "Don't tell me you're scared of heights?"

She watched Gohan sigh in resignation and knew she'd got him. He was just so easy to bully. She waited, smiling down at him encouragingly as he hopped up onto the lowest branch and then proceeded to use his arms and feet to scale the tree. In a matter of minutes, he'd reached the branch she stood upon. She scooted out a bit to make room for him, steadying herself by reaching up to grab the branch above her.

"See?" She gestured out at the view. "You can seriously see everything from here. Look, there's the mall." She pointed at a large, beige building toward the center of the city. "And there's my school." She adjusted her finger to point to Orange Star Junior High.

Gohan followed her finger and she watched him take in the sights with pride. He might be an expert on the mountains, but she was an expert when it came to Satan City.

"It's pretty huge, alright," he observed. "I can't even imagine what it's like living in a big city like that."

Videl grinned and pinched a piece of his sleeve between her thumb and index finger. "Well, you definitely couldn't live there dressed like this," she teased. "You reek of country boy. You'd get eaten alive at my school."

Gohan looked down at his traditional white changshan and then at her, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "But I've been to plenty of cities dressed like this."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Gohan, nobody our age wears clothes like that." She made a show of examining him up and down critically. "Don't get me wrong, the look works on you. But it's not exactly trendy, you know? I'm just saying you would stand out."

Gohan hummed thoughtfully, looking once again at his shirt, and then shrugged. "Well, my friend Bulma always says that style is all about confidence. It's not so much about what you wear as how you wear it."

Videl's cheeks puffed out in amusement and then she laughed out loud. Gohan really was something else. She almost wished he did go to her school. He could teach her classmates a thing or two. "That's pretty well said, Gohan," she praised him. "Maybe you'd do alright after all."

The two were quiet for a time as they enjoyed the view of the city. Videl's gaze was drawn to the enormous white mansion that was her home and she took a moment to consider what her father was doing at that moment. Probably showing off in the gym or watching footage of his matches from the World Martial Arts Tournament. It was nice that he had so much free time these days because it meant they got to spend more time together, but sometimes she wished he had an actual nine-to-five job so he'd spend less time flexing in the mirror.

Watching the hustle and bustle of Satan City like this gave her an idea and she turned to her friend with excitement in her eyes. "Hey, Gohan," she spoke, getting his attention. "What do you say to coming to the city with me next time? I want to introduce you to my friends and show you my dad's gym. You've been a great tour guide for me these past few weeks so I think it's time for me to show you around a bit."

Gohan looked at her in surprise. He seemed to think about it for a moment and then he smiled and nodded. "Sure. I'd love it if you showed me around." Suddenly his eyebrows pinched together and he said, "Wait, your dad owns a gym? I didn't know that. No wonder you're so into martial arts."

Videl had to resist the urge to say, "Duh." She'd totally forgotten that she'd never told Gohan about her father. He still had no idea who she was. Well, she supposed she ought to tell him now before he got the shock of his life. "Yeah, my dad's, uh, kind of a big shot in the martial arts world," she started, her cheeks warming a bit in embarrassment. She wasn't used to actually having to tell people who she was. Everyone knew the moment she gave her name. "I'm sure you've heard of him. I mean, everyone has since he's the hero who saved the world from Cell five months ago."

Videl couldn't have been more unprepared when beside her Gohan suddenly slipped and fell out of the tree.

o0o

* * *

" _Mr. Satan's daughter?!"_ Bulma's voice screeched over the phone. Yamcha had to pull the phone away from his ear to keep his eardrum from bursting. He winced and rubbed the abused audio receptacle tenderly. When he deemed it safe once again, he put the phone back to his ear.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "I wish I was joking with you but I'm watching them right now." He peeked his head around the corner of the alley he was hiding in to spy on the child duo who were busy looking at the display in the window of a martial arts store. "I couldn't believe it either. Gohan never comes to the city unless it's to buy groceries for Chichi so I was sure I was mistaken, but that's definitely him. And what's more, he's wandering around in super Saiyan form."

Thankfully, Bulma didn't shriek again, but she still sounded dumbfounded when she spoke. "What on Earth is that boy doing? Chichi's been worried about him lately because he's apparently been going off on his own, and now I find out he's spending time with Mr. Satan's kid, of all people? How did they even meet? Does she know who he is? Does he know who _she_ is?"

Yamcha shook his head, just as lost as her. "I couldn't tell you. I'm just telling you what I'm seeing."

"Well, what are they doing? Does it look like a date? Does he seem interested in her?"

Yamcha's targets had moved on from the martial arts store and were now walking away down the street. Yamcha was forced to abandon his hiding place to follow them. He pushed through shoppers to get closer and when they stopped again to examine an ice cream stall he slipped behind a telephone pole.

The two did appear to be having a good time. Satan's daughter pointed at an ice cream flavor and nudged Gohan playfully with her elbow. Gohan followed her finger and laughed.

"It's hard to say," he answered, keeping his voice down so as not to be overheard by the pair. "I guess it _could_ be a date, but you know how Gohan is. I mean, he's more clued in than Goku, for sure, but he's still that guy's son. It looks to me more like they're just a couple of kids enjoying a playdate."

Bulma hummed and Yamcha knew she was attempting to glean any possible meaning from this. It was definitely strange to see Gohan hanging out with another kid his age, whatever the meaning was behind it. He'd always been friendly and social, but he'd never sought out other kids to spend time with. Yamcha had always taken him for a bit of an introvert.

"Well," she said at last, "that's how it generally starts. If Gohan's been spending time with this girl then it's safe to say he's interested in her, whether or not something more comes of it. I'm just amazed to hear that he's hanging out with _Mr. Satan's_ daughter. We're talking about the guy who took credit for his victory against Cell, after all. I don't mean to sound extreme, but that's a match made in hell."

Yamcha sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. She had a point. If Gohan did end up falling for this girl, explaining just who he was to her father was going to involve opening one hell of a grisly can of worms.

"In any case, let's maybe not tell anyone else about this just yet. Especially Chichi. She's got enough on her plate right now with the baby on the way."

"Right," Yamcha agreed readily. He certainly was in no rush to deal with an overexcited and hormonal Chichi. "We'll keep it between us for now. Until we can nail down just what kind of relationship they have, anyway. In the meantime, I'll continue to keep an eye on them and I'll let you know later if anything happens."

Bulma made a noise of affirmation. "Great. Then I'll talk to you later. Keep those hawk eyes out."

Yamcha laughed. "You got it." He hit the end call button on his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. Peering out from his hiding place again, his face blanched when he realized his targets were nowhere in sight. "Oh, crap! Where did they go!"

o0o

* * *

"Feast your eyes, Gohan, on the Satan Gym!"

Videl spread her arms wide before the entrance to the massive building. She was pleased to see Gohan's look of shock at the grandness and enormity of the place. She was sure he'd never seen a gym like this before. The place was as much her own pride as her father's, as she'd been training here pretty much since she was in diapers. It was a place she could go to when she needed to get away or when she needed to vent about something. It was the world's premier martial arts gym and she couldn't wait to show Gohan the inside. Even he might get excited about martial arts when he saw how well-equipped it was.

"It's huge," he observed, his tone full of wonder. "Your dad really owns this place?"

Videl nodded and grabbed his wrist. "Come on. I'll show you around."

She made to pull him through the door but she met resistance. Gohan wasn't budging. He looked nervous. "But…your dad's in there, right? Maybe we shouldn't disturb him…"

Videl shook her head. "Don't worry. He won't be in there right now. He's got a lunch date today. That's why I picked today to come here. I wouldn't be caught dead by him with a _boy_. He'd get the wrong idea and I'd never hear the end of it."

Gohan seemed to relax at her reassurance and reluctantly allowed himself to be led inside. "You're saying he'd get mad if he knew you were hanging out with me?" he asked curiously. "Why?"

Videl scoffed. "He has strong opinions about boys. He thinks they're all degenerates after my body. He's said a million times that he won't let me date any boys unless they can beat him in a fight."

Gohan blinked in surprise. "But isn't your dad supposed to be the strongest person alive? How are they supposed to beat him?"

Videl threw him a look over her shoulder. "Exactly."

"Oh."

They entered the gym and found several of her dad's students doing independent exercises on the various fitness machines. Videl showed Gohan around, pointing at each machine and giving a brief explanation of how it was used. Gohan seemed legitimately impressed by all the equipment and Videl's pride soared. She was glad to see that he was actually interested in the machines, unlike her friend Erasa who was only interested in ogling her dad's students.

The last area she showed him was the practice ring where she sparred. She kicked off her boots and invited Gohan to join her on the mats. Gohan seemed reluctant but he followed, pausing briefly to slip off his black shoes and white socks and place them neatly outside the ring.

Videl beckoned him forward and, grinning, took a stance opposite him. "Now that I've got you here, there's no more escape. I want to see what you've got."

Even after three weeks knowing him, she'd never been successful in getting Gohan to spar with her. As big a pushover as he was, he always stuck firmly to his guns on this one matter, insisting time and again that he wasn't a fighter. Well, today, she would get her fight. Obviously, Gohan had some kind of hang-up about fighting and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Videl…" he protested, just as she knew he would. She didn't let him finish.

"What is it you're so scared of?" she asked directly, not moving from her stance. "I know you can fight and I know you're strong. You say you don't like fighting and yet you showed me that training spot in the woods and you sounded happy when you mentioned how your dad used to take you there. It sounds to me less like you hate fighting and more like you're scared to. Why don't you tell me what's really going on?"

She knew she had Gohan where she wanted him when his fingers curled into fists at his sides. In all the time she'd known him, she'd never seen him get angry, but now she could tell that she'd pressed a button.

"I don't like hurting people," he said levelly. "That's all there is to it."

Videl's eyes narrowed. "I don't think it is." She was calling bullshit. What he gave was a reason not to fight overly aggressively, not a reason to not fight at all. "You act disdainful of people who live to fight and even though you have the skills you steadfastly refuse to improve yourself. It's like you're worried about reaching the top—of achieving every fighter's dream."

Gohan's fists tightened and for the first time ever she heard him raise his voice. "That's because it's _not my dream!_ "

His yell wasn't loud enough to attract the attention of the other people in the gym over the noise of weights and the pounding of footfalls on treadmills but it was definitely full of passion and that got Videl's attention.

The moment the words were out, Gohan seemed to wilt upon himself. He lowered his gaze to the floor and she saw his brows push together in frustration. "I don't care about being the strongest," he continued, now at his normal volume. "I don't want it. I have no desire to become the kind of person who only lives to face stronger opponents. I don't want to become someone who shoves everything—everyone—to the side just for the chance to test my skills against a worthy adversary. I refuse."

Videl's eyes widened and she rose out of her stance to take a step toward her friend. He sounded legitimately upset. Much more than she was expecting. A moment ago, she'd felt self-righteous. Now she kind of felt like a bully. "Gohan…" she spoke gently to him. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize this was such a big deal to you. I should have just accepted it when you said you didn't want to fight."

Gohan's fists relaxed and he raised his face to meet her eyes. To her relief, he didn't look like he intended to snap at her again. "No, it's not your fault," he said, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have taken out my frustration on you. Liking to fight doesn't make you a bad person and I didn't mean to imply that. I just…" He took a deep breath and seemed to decide something. When he opened his mouth again, he said, "My dad was like that. I looked up to him and I wanted to be just like him, but fighting was his whole life and when he finally decided that he'd reached the highest level he could, he just…quit. I guess none of us mattered enough to live for after he achieved his goal."

Videl was confused but she also felt a sinking feeling of dread in her stomach at his choice of words. "What do you mean by 'quit?'"

"He's gone now," Gohan answered simply, his tone heavy with suppressed emotions. "He chose to…pass on. Said it was time. I guess mom and I weren't enough to hold him here."

Videl's heart rose into her throat. She wasn't normally the type to get emotional about other people, but after hearing a story like that, her heart broke for the boy in front of her. Suddenly, she understood Gohan's words from the other day. She didn't know how long ago this had happened, but it was clear to her that her friend was still in the process of coming to terms with his dad's passing.

In a rare show of sympathy, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his middle. He started a bit at the contact but then he returned the embrace, placing his hands on her back and holding her there for a moment. When he was ready, he let go and she allowed him to pull away. "Gohan, I'm really, really sorry," she told him honestly. "I can't even imagine what that was like for you and your mom."

Gohan surprised her by smiling. His usual gentle expression was back. "Thanks, Videl. You're a good person. And you know what? I actually feel a lot better now."

Videl returned his smile and nodded. "Anytime." She was silent for a moment as she thought about the boy in front of her, then, taking a risk, she added, "But you know, Gohan. I don't think you're in any danger of ending up like your dad. If you really hate fighting, then I won't pressure you into doing it anymore. But if you're just holding back because of what happened, then I'm just going to say this. Find a new reason to fight. Find your own reason. There's a lot of good people who have strength can do in a world like ours."

Gohan's eyebrows rose. Videl was pleased to see that he actually seemed to be considering what she said. After a moment, he smiled again and gave her a nod. "I'll try."


	4. Chapter Four

Alrighty, so, I've finally sussed out the number of chapters this story will have. It was a little tricky to break everything up in a way that made sense and wouldn't be too jarring but I've settled on ten chapters. Each chapter works out to be about the same length that way and ten is an all-around solid number.

On another note, I apologize in advance for the small amount of potty language in this chapter. We've got ourselves a Vegeta.

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

"Woman, you've been at this for ages. Just what are you doing on that infernal networking terminal?"

Bulma rolled her eyes at her husband's grumbling. "I'm just doing a little research, Vegeta." She spun around in her chair and raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you care, anyway? Shouldn't you be off picking a fight with Piccolo or something?"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously and he glared down at her over his crossed arms. "Fighting the Namekian would do nothing for me. The only person on this planet who could give me the challenge I desire is gone now."

Bulma sighed, having heard this speech many times in the past five months. "Then get a new hobby already. Jeez."

She returned to her computer and continued browsing through search results, opening promising links in new tabs to peruse later. Suddenly, a presence appeared at her back and Vegeta was looming over her shoulder, squinting at her browser window.

"The twenty-fourth World Martial Arts Tournament," he read. "Junior Division." His eyebrows shot up. "Were you planning to enter our son in some puny Earth competition?" He scratched his chin and seemed to contemplate this. "It's hardly what I'd call a challenge, but I suppose he has to start somewhere."

Bulma pinched the bridge of her nose. "Vegeta, he's _one_. I'm not entering him into any tournaments." She clicked over to another tab and pointed to a photo of the actual subject of her research. "I'm looking up information on this girl. She was the winner of the tournament last year."

Vegeta's ever-present frown deepened as he examined the photo. "Videl Satan," he read the caption. One of his eyebrows rose and he turned from the screen to look at her instead. "Don't tell me this girl is related to that buffoon from the Cell Games? Why on any planet would you be looking up information about that clown's progeny?"

Bulma looked back at him and crossed her arms over her chest with a little smirk. "Because," she said, putting emphasis on the word, "Gohan's interested in her."

This seemed to actually pique her husband's interest. "As in Kakarot's brat? Interested in what way? Not as an opponent, surely. She wouldn't last a second against him."

Bulma rolled her eyes again, this time fondly. Of course Vegeta didn't get it. "Jesus, you have such a one-track mind. I meant he's interested in her as a person. Possibly romantically."

To Bulma's great surprise, her words actually silenced her husband. Vegeta looked from her back to the screen in surprise and took another moment to study the girl's picture. Then, without warning, he threw his head back and began laughing. "Oh, this is _rich!_ " he howled. "The buffoon steals the credit for his victory so the brat gets back at him by fucking his daughter! I didn't think he had the balls."

Bulma's face screwed up into an angry scowl and she smacked her husband upside the head. " _Vegeta_ , Gohan's _eleven_. Nobody's fucking anybody. And I doubt this has anything to do with revenge. I think Gohan genuinely likes this girl."

Bulma was amused when her husband seemed just the slightest bit put out by her correction. Vegeta snorted and turned away in a show of losing interest. "Just when I thought maybe the boy had a bit of Saiyan in him after all," he groused. "But he's just like his father. Not a lick of pride between them."

"Well, I think it's cute," Bulma asserted, turning back to her research.

Vegeta scoffed and Bulma heard him turn around and head for the door, grumbling under his breath all the way.

o0o

* * *

Videl exhaled a contented breath as she stretched out under the sun. Grass tickled her bare arms and a warm breeze rustled her fringe. It was the perfect day and she and Gohan had decided to spend it outside. Today, Videl had brought her homework with her and the two had spent the past hour studying together under the dappled shade of a maple tree. Now, Videl was taking a break.

"How are you so good at algebra?" she asked the boy reclining next to her somewhat irately. "You don't even go to school."

Gohan lay on his back with his head resting on his hands. The sunlight caught his teal eyes, making them look aquamarine. He smiled at her question. "My mom's always put a lot of emphasis on my studies. She wants me to go to a good college."

Videl hummed at that. So, Gohan had one of _those_ moms. That made sense. Her dad also aspired to send her to college so she could understand. Though he wasn't the type to breathe down her neck about studying. So long as her test scores were decent, he stayed out of her business.

They were silent for a time as they watched dragonflies chase each other through the sky then Videl turned to him again and asked, "Hey, have you ever thought of enrolling in public school?"

Gohan blinked back at her. She could tell from his expression that he hadn't. This was confirmed when he said, "The thought never really crossed my mind. I've had a few tutors come to my house, but otherwise my mom's always provided all my schooling."

Videl tapped her elbow with her index finger. An idea was taking root in her mind. An idea that would let her see Gohan more frequently than just on weekends and afternoons. "Well, you know," she started, making a point of catching his eyes with her own, "Homeschooling is good and all, but there are a lot of merits to attending public school. There's clubs and sports teams and lots of other kids your age so you can make more friends. You live pretty far away, but I'm pretty sure than Mt. Paozu falls within the Satan City School District limits." She scooted her body nearer to his so she could nudge him with her elbow. "How about it? Do you think your mom would let you go to school in the city?"

Gohan considered this. He moved one of his arms out from under his head and brought his hand to his chin. "I dunno…" he said thoughtfully. "There's a chance I could talk her into it if I frame the argument right. Mom always wanted me to be normal and there's nothing more normal than attending public school, right?"

Videl watched him nod to himself in bemusement. There he went being strange again. If his mom's goal was to raise a normal child, Videl was afraid she'd already fallen a bit short of the mark. Nothing about Gohan was normal, as far as she was concerned. But then, that's what made him intriguing to her. She wouldn't like him if he was just like every other boy. She smiled widely and rolled onto her stomach so she could lay a hand on his shoulder. "That's right. So promise you'll talk to your mom, okay?"

Gohan returned her smile and nodded. "Sure. It couldn't hurt."

o0o

* * *

"Gohan's _what?!_ Are you serious?"

Chichi smiled happily to herself as she rinsed a plate and set it aside. "That's right," she responded, grabbing a new plate and beginning to scrub it. "I'm sending Gohan to school in Satan City."

Krillin couldn't believe his ears. Chichi's sudden decision to enroll her son in the public education system was the single most unexpected piece of news he'd heard since finding out there were more androids. "But…but why?" he asked dumbly. "I mean, not that I think it's a bad idea, but I thought you were determined to do all his schooling yourself."

Chichi hummed and once again grabbed a new dish. "Well, Gohan's getting older now and I think it's time for him to interact with kids his own age. He'll never become a normal adult if he doesn't get exposure to society. And besides," she set the now clean bowl in the drying rack, "I'm going to have less time to tutor him once the baby arrives. This kills two birds with one stone."

Krillin leaned his hip against the wall of the kitchen and brought a hand to his chin. He supposed that made sense. But still, to suddenly send Gohan to school was a big change. "What does Gohan think about it?" he asked curiously. "You've told him, right?"

Chichi turned from her washing to look at him. "Oh, yes. In fact, he was the one who suggested it." She made a happy little humming noise and turned back to the sink. "I'm so happy he's taking his education seriously. Orange Star Junior High is a very well-rated school. I have no doubt going there will put him on track to getting into to a good university."

Krillin frowned slightly and scratched his temple. "Really? Gohan was the one who suggested it?" he said more to himself than the woman cheerfully washing dishes across the room. He crossed his arms contemplatively. This whole Gohan situation just kept getting weirder and weirder. "Maybe it's time I had a talk with him."

o0o

* * *

"Everyone, meet your new classmate, Son Gohan."

The pretty brunette teacher placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and gave him a friendly smile before addressing the class again. "Gohan here is just starting school for the first time today. He lives quite far from the city so he's been homeschooled up until now. I want him to have a good school experience so I hope that all of you will treat him with kindness and respect."

Videl giggled to herself when she saw that her friend had chosen to come to school in his usual white and black outfit. He looked totally out of place, just as she'd said he would. Two seats down, Sharpner scoffed and under his breath said, "He looks like a total nerd."

Beside her, Erasa smacked his arm. "Oh, shush. I think he looks cute."

Videl payed her friends no mind, keeping her attention instead on Gohan. Gohan smiled brightly at the room and bowed. The unexpected display of formality caused whispers to break out among her classmates and Videl shook her head in amusement. Already, her friend was off to bad start on the 'being normal' endeavor.

Once introductions were complete, the teacher invited Gohan to pick a seat and Videl subtly gestured to the empty seat on her left with her eyes. Gohan took the hint and climbed the stairs up to the row where she and Erasa and Sharpner sat. He set his bag on the desk and slid into his seat, greeting the three friends with a friendly smile.

From her other side, Erasa waved. "Hi, Gohan! Welcome to Orange Star Junior High!"

Sharpner merely grunted and made a grand show of not caring about him.

Gohan inclined his head to Erasa politely. "Thank you. I'm looking forward to getting along with everyone."

Sharpner grunted again and this time said, "Just as I said. He's a total dweeb."

Videl snuck a foot past Erasa and kicked him.

The morning classes passed without incident. Gohan was on his best behavior and Videl could tell that the teachers liked him. He answered questions readily and was always quick to volunteer when asked. Videl got the impression that he was the type of kid who got along better with adults than people his own age and while normally that would annoy her, Gohan didn't have the air of condescension that usually accompanied such a personality so his behavior didn't come off as off-putting.

When lunch time rolled around, Erasa was quick to invite Gohan to eat with them and the quartet filed outside to find a good spot. Videl was able to snag a shaded section of grass near the gym and the group sat down to eat.

"So, Gohan," Erasa addressed the boy as soon as they'd set out their lunches. "Tell me about yourself. What do you do for fun? Do you have any siblings?"

Gohan chewed his rice thoughtfully for a moment and then answered, "I enjoy hiking and reading. I don't have any siblings yet, but I have a brother on the way."

"Oh!" Erasa squealed. "That's so exciting! If your brother is anything like you, he's sure to be a cutie."

Videl rolled her eyes at her friend and Gohan blushed.

Sharpner, who had been quiet up till that moment, leaned back on his arms and said, "A cutie? More like a giant nerd. I bet he'll be born with a textbook in his hands."

Videl was glad when Erasa swatted the blond boy and said, "Don't worry about Sharpner here. He's disdainful of anyone who isn't good at sports."

"In other words, a scrawny kid like you," Sharpner spoke again, pointing at Gohan with his chopsticks.

Gohan took the accusation with grace. Where any other boy would jump to defend himself, he merely nodded and said, "Well, that's true. I don't know much about sports." He smiled brightly then and to the long-haired blond said, "But I'd be happy to learn."

This seemed to catch Sharpner off guard. He blinked dumbly at Gohan before nodding slowly. "Oh. Uh, well, sure."

Videl chuckled to herself at Sharpner's inarticulate answer. Perhaps Gohan's strangeness would prove to be a selling point rather than a detractor as she'd initially thought.

Erasa saw her laughing and nudged her with a sly look. "But anyway, I'm a little surprised to see you taking to the new boy so fast, Videl. You're normally prickly with new people."

Before she could say anything, Gohan jumped in and answered for her. "Oh, that's because Videl and I know each other," he explained, giving her one of his bright smiles.

Videl blushed slightly at the frankness with which he divulged their friendship but she nodded in confirmation. "That's right. I met Gohan a month ago when I was visiting Carbine City with my dad. I ran into him while hiking in the mountains."

Erasa looked at Gohan in wonder. "Wow, you must have made a darn good first impression. Videl doesn't normally take to people so quickly."

Gohan scratched the back of his head. "Really? But she's so nice."

Sharpner snorted and Erasa stifled a laugh with her hand. Videl glared at both of them.

"Well, regardless," Erasa spoke again when she'd contained her giggles, "we're glad to have you here." She lifted her bottle of juice in a toast. "To Gohan. Let's have a grandtacular school year!"

Videl laughed and raised her sports drink, humoring her friend. Sharpner and Gohan followed suit and they knocked their drinks together.

o0o

* * *

"Hey, Davis!"

Mr. Satan's voice rang out through the room. A moment later, the door opened and a butler dressed in an immaculately pressed black suit stepped into the room. He bowed. "How may I help you, sir?"

The large world champion strode up to the butler. "Have you seen Videl anywhere? I need to talk to her."

Davis shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. I haven't seen the young mistress since this morning. Have you tried the gym?"

Mr. Satan sighed and crossed his arms over his broad chest. "That's where I was going to head next. Jeez, where _is_ that girl? She's been scarcer than a mosquito in winter." He looked down at the butler and asked, "Do you have any idea what she's been up to?"

"None, sir," Davis said apologetically. "Perhaps she's been spending time with her school friends? The weather has been nice lately so she may be enjoying the outdoors."

Mr. Satan looked off at the wall as he considered this. "Hmm. Well, I hope that's the case. I always worry that she's going to discover boys one of these days and knowing she's been going off on her own has me a little concerned." He shook his head and laughed. "Oh, what am I saying. She knows the rules. No dating unless the boy she's interested in can beat me in a fight."

He placed his fists on his waist and laughed again loudly as he brushed by Davis and headed for the door. The butler watched him go with a carefully controlled expression. In the privacy of his own mind, his sympathy went out to the young Videl. She was going to have a hell of a time finding a boy who could meet her father's criteria.

oO0Oo

* * *

Yes, I went there. You can't have a G/V fic without a few school time shenanigans. (Actually, I kind of just wanted Erasa and Sharpner to feature in the story. I love my blondes.)

 **To Iwik:** I thought it would be nice to have a softer Videl. Just as you said, she's younger and less jaded than her canon counterpart. Her dad's only just become the world savior so she hasn't had to live with his huge head and party lifestyle for that long yet. In that same vein, I toned down Sharpner a bit as well. Let the kiddos be kiddos, I say.


	5. Chapter Five

Oh, ho, ho! I've been very excited to get to this chapter. We've reached the halfway point now. (Sort of. The second half is a little longer than the first.) I'm pumped for what's to come.

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

"What do you mean my Videl was here with a BOY!" the world champ roared, causing his students to cower like small children. "Why wasn't I informed of this immediately?!"

One brave student stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Mr. Satan. We thought he was just a friend from s-school."

Mr. Satan glared down at the shaking man over crossed arms. "A friend from school who she was seen getting cozy with in this very gym," he reminded him. "A friend who happens to be a BOY."

The entire group fell to their knees, clasping their hands together in front of them. "We're sorry! We should have told you sooner! Please forgive us!"

Mr. Satan huffed and shook his head in disappointment. There was nothing he could do now but try to find out more about this mystery boy. "I want a description," he ordered the cowering lot. "You all are going to tell me everything you remember about this kid."

o0o

* * *

Gohan sneezed, startling trio walking beside him. The group of eleven-year-olds were currently en route to the local library to do some research for a school project.

"Hey, hey, you're not getting sick, are you? It's the wrong time of year for that," Erasa said as he rubbed his nose.

Gohan shook his head. "I don't think so." He smiled and shrugged. "Maybe somebody's talking about me?"

Sharpner scoffed. "Who would be talking about a shrimp like you?"

The blond jock's barb was ignored.

The quartet reached the library and filed inside. The place was large and a little intimidating but Videl had been there many times for school so she knew just where to go. Her three friends followed her up the stairs to the second floor where the books on martial arts were kept.

The assignment they'd been given this time was a somewhat long-term project from their P.E. teacher and it was one Videl was actually excited to do. It was an experiment to see if martial arts could be successfully taught from a book without any physical instruction. The students had been broken into pairs with each pair having the freedom to choose a style of their choice, provided it was one neither person had studied before. Videl had wasted no time in forcing Gohan to be her partner.

When they reached the section they were looking for, the group split up to search through the extensive collection of literature spanning several genres including how-to guides, history, health and fitness, and philosophy. About ten minutes in, Erasa and Sharpner's search had devolved into giggling about various off-beat kung fu styles. At first, Videl was annoyed by this, but as she listened, it gave her an idea.

"Look! This one's called the Furious Zebra Style." Erasa showed Sharpner the cover of the book she was holding and Sharpner snorted at the poorly illustrated anthropomorphic zebra who indeed looked to be quite enraged.

"How about this one?" he returned, showing her a book with a photo of a grinning old man in sunglasses. "It's called the Drunken Fist Style. Apparently it requires getting totally sloshed to use."

Erasa burst into a loud giggle fit and a nearby patron shushed her in annoyance.

Videl wandered over to the shelf where the two blonds were looking and browsed the titles with interest. Among them were some real gems, such as the Dancing Gorilla Style and the Leaping Gerbil Style and even one called the Vindictive Mother-In-Law Style. She stifled a giggle of her own and quickly called Gohan over.

"What do you think about picking one of these?" she asked him when he joined them by the shelf. "They're crazy but they actually look kinda fun."

Gohan leaned down to scan the titles just as she had and she watched his eyebrows rise up his forehead. After a moment, he looked back at her, surprise written all over his face. "You really want to do one of these?" he asked uncertainly, as if waiting for her to reveal that she was just pulling his leg.

Videl nodded. "Why not? The goal is to learn something new and I've definitely never tried anything this wacky before."

Gohan placed his hands on his hips and was quiet for a moment, then he smiled and nodded. "Alright, sure. I've never tried anything like this either. It'll be a learning experience for both of us."

The matter settled, the two of them began seriously browsing the books in search of a style to learn for their assignment. It took a good fifteen minutes, but eventually they settled on a fun-looking teamwork-based form called the Soaring Monkey Style.

"Okay, we've found our martial art. Now we've gotta plan our practice sessions," Videl said, shoving the book under her arm.

Sharpner, seeing an opportunity to get another jab in, chose that moment to speak up, saying, "Are you sure Gohan's going to be able to handle this? It's not too late to switch partners to me, y'know. Wouldn't you rather work with someone who knows something about martial arts?"

Videl smirked and tossed her head haughtily. "I'm sure we'll manage, Sharpner. But thanks for the offer."

Their business in the library concluded, Videl nodded to Gohan and they left the pair of blonds behind to head to the checkout counter. Videl grinned to herself and squeezed the book to her chest as they left the library. Finally, she would get a chance to see what Gohan was made of. He may not like to fight, but he would do anything as long as it was for school. She knew she was being selfish again, but all the same, she sent a silent thank you to their P.E. teacher.

o0o

* * *

"You know what? I think going to school has actually been good for him."

Piccolo looked sidelong down at the short man standing beside him on the edge of Kami's Lookout. Krillin nodded to himself and continued. "Yeah, he's seemed much happier recently. You think it's because he's got plenty of stuff going on to take his mind off what happened?"

Piccolo said nothing for a time as he considered Krillin's words. He himself had been keeping an eye on Gohan and the kid did seem to be doing better lately. He spent less time alone and more time hanging out with his new friends. He still showed no signs of picking up his training again but at least he wasn't wallowing in self-doubt and guilt the way he'd been before. Piccolo didn't think he'd quite forgiven himself yet, but he was on the road to it.

"I just hope Goku's watching this," he said at last, ignoring Krillin's question. "I hope that somewhere up there, he realizes what he's put his son through by choosing not to come back."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Krillin frown sadly. "I'm sure he is," he said softly. "We may never understand exactly what was going through Goku's head in that moment, but I know he loves Gohan and wants to see him grow up happy. He just…doesn't always take care of things the way we think he ought to. He's always been like that."

Once again, Piccolo said nothing. It wasn't his place to judge Goku nor was it his place to psychoanalyze him. What was done was done and all that was left was to pick up the pieces and put them back together into something that worked.

o0o

* * *

Videl laughed out loud as Gohan lost his balance and sent them both tumbling.

They were currently back at Gohan's training ground near the stream and the two of them had been attempting one of the book's trickier moves. The move involved Gohan standing on his hands while Videl balanced on the flats of his feet. It was a move that took an enormous amount of strength on Gohan's part and at first Videl had written it off as impossible, but Gohan had been intrigued and insisted they try it. No one had been more shocked than her when he'd flawlessly lunged into a freestanding handstand and ushered her up. Videl had accepted the challenge, and one running leap later she managed to get the height to land atop him, but the momentum caused him to topple, sending both of them to the ground in a giggling heap.

"I don't know if that one's going to work," she said, disentangling from him so she could get to her feet.

Gohan nodded, still grinning. "Yeah, let's maybe work our way up to that one."

The next move they tried involved Videl standing atop Gohan's shoulders and it went much better. The aim of the Soaring Monkey Style was to fight on par with foes much larger than oneself and it involved many leaps and lot of stacking. Gohan steadied her by wrapping his fingers around her ankles and the two practiced running around like that, getting Videl used to balancing in this new position.

Once she was comfortable standing on Gohan's shoulders, they moved on to the actual act of fighting. This involved Gohan using the palms of his hands as makeshift footholds for her as she leapt and kicked at an imaginary opponent. Gohan was kept on his toes trying to keep his center of gravity beneath her as she wobbled around above him. It was a great challenge for both of them and Videl thought they were doing pretty well all things considered.

"I can't believe…someone actually came up with a style…as crazy and difficult…as this one," she panted when they finally stopped for a breather. She was lying on her back near the streambank while Gohan sat beside her. He didn't look anywhere near as worn out as she did but she was satisfied to see a sheen of sweat on his forehead.

He nodded and blew out an exhale that fluttered his pale bangs. "I can't imagine it's very effective in an actual fight. I mean, you'd have to be perfectly in tune with your partner at all times to ever have a shot at surviving through a full battle."

Videl raised an eyebrow at Gohan choice of the word battle rather than match, but she didn't comment on it. "Well, maybe Mr. Soranno was right that it's something that can't be mastered without a teacher. I mean, the whole point of this experiment is to prove the necessity of physical instruction, right? I'm beginning to think he's right about that."

Gohan looked sidelong at her and nodded. "Maybe. There _is_ only so much a person can learn from a book. But I think the challenge is rewarding in its own way. It really gets you to think about the theory behind the practice, y'know what I mean?"

Videl thought about that. She supposed he had a point. Without someone there to tell you what the point was behind each technique you had to figure it out for yourself. It brought critical thinking into the equation. This probably wouldn't be very effective for someone with little experience in martial arts, but for her and Gohan, it was actually quite the effective challenge.

Once her breathing had calmed and she felt ready to go again, they jumped back in, this time moving on to the soaring part of the Soaring Monkey Style.

Videl grinned in excitement as Gohan used his intertwined hands to launch her high into the air. The other main point of this style, besides using your partner to gain a height advantage, was aerial martial arts. Gohan's job was to get her into the air to fight her opponents from above while he launched an assault of his own below. After getting the basics down, they practiced by having him propel her up into a tree. This worked phenomenally well all the way up until the point where Videl missed her grip and came falling down onto him for the second time that afternoon.

Gohan laughed as Videl groaned and pushed her face out of the dirt, spluttering the earth out of her mouth. She felt a sleeve wipe across her face and when she was finally able to open her eyes she found Gohan smiling up at her from directly beneath her. Only then did it register that she was lying atop him.

Rather than get off, she decided to take a moment to study his face up close. She was drawn in by the kaleidoscope mixing of blue and green in his eyes. For the second time, she was struck by just how ethereal Gohan looked compared with the other boys she knew. When she'd first seen him in that clearing nearly two months ago, she'd thought he looked angelic. She'd thought there was no way a person like him came from the same world as her. Now, she was feeling that same sensation again.

"Gohan," she spoke lowly, still not moving from atop him. "You know, there's something different about you. I've always thought so."

Gohan's smile transitioned into a confused frown. He tilted his head slightly and watched her with large eyes, waiting for her to continue.

Videl took the invitation. "You're not like Sharpner or the other boys in our class. Sometimes I wonder if you're really a human like the rest of us." She felt a little silly saying such a thing to him, but the words were coming out of their own volition and somehow she could sense that Gohan wouldn't judge her for them. "You're probably the most honest person I've ever met, but I can't shake the feeling that there's more to you that you're not telling me." Her face flushed a little in embarrassment as she said, "You're not, like, some forest spirit that I picked up without meaning to, right?"

Gohan blinked up at her and she saw gears working behind his eyes. She probably surprised him with her sudden strangeness. She wouldn't take it back, though. She wanted to see what he would say to her.

At last, he scrunched his brow a little and in a voice that was slightly timid asked, "You wouldn't stop being my friend if I told you a secret, right?"

Videl looked at him in surprise for a moment and then shook her head. "Of course not. I mean, as long as your secret isn't that you're an evil murder demon or something." She meant it as a joke but a tiny part of her considered it.

Gohan took a deep breath, looking suddenly nervous, and then he squeezed his eyes shut and so quickly that she almost didn't understand him, said, "I'm an alien."

Videl blinked down at him, utterly silenced. A moment passed and Gohan cracked his eyes open cautiously. When he saw that she had yet to make any kind of move, he opened them all the way. It took another moment for Videl to process what he'd said. Then she opened her mouth and said, "You're a what?"

Gohan cringed but didn't remove his gaze from hers. "I'm an alien," he repeated. "Well, half-alien, to be accurate. My dad came here from another planet."

Of all the things Videl had imagined Gohan would say, this was not one of them. If he'd said he was a ghost, she'd have accepted that. Or if he'd claimed to be a youkai or even a murder demon. But an alien? He sure didn't fit the image of any kind of alien she'd ever heard of. She frowned. "Is that supposed to be some kind of a joke?" she asked hesitantly.

Gohan shrank even more under her skepticism. He wasn't acting like he was lying, but she was having a hard time accepting his confession as truth. "It's not a joke," he insisted. "My dad came to Earth thirty-one years ago from a planet called Vegeta. He was supposed to destroy this planet but he ended up living here instead and then he married my mom and had me."

Now Videl was having even more trouble swallowing Gohan's story. His dad was sent to Earth to destroy it? That was some sci-fi level nonsense right there. Still, she wouldn't write him off completely without hearing him out. "So…what? That makes you some kind of human-Vegetan hybrid?"

"Saiyan," he corrected. "The people from Vegeta are called Saiyans. And yes, that's exactly what I am." He closed his eyes again and exhaled, allowing his head to rest on the damp earth. "I know it's hard to believe and I'm sorry I hid it from you. I just don't like to go around advertising what I am because I don't really think of myself as a Saiyan. I was born and raised here on Earth and I didn't even know about my heritage until I was five." He opened his eyes again and smiled guiltily up at her. "You probably won't believe me without proof, though, huh?"

Videl didn't really know what she was thinking when she made the decision to do what she did next. Perhaps it was simply because she was feeling overwhelmed, or maybe it was to prove to herself that even if Gohan was what he said he was, that didn't make him different from her. However she chose to rationalize it after the fact, the only thing she could say for certain was that nothing could have stopped her in that moment from doing it.

Gohan was probably every bit as surprised as she was when she dipped her head down and pressed her mouth to his in a chaste kiss. His lips were warm and soft and she lingered there for a moment before pulling back, her cheeks burning scarlet. Gohan gaped up at her in surprise. "Videl?" he asked when he found his voice again. "What was that fo—"

"Don't think too hard about it," she cut him off before he could finish. "I was just doing a little test." She cleared her throat and tried not to sound awkward as she did it. "You can say whatever you want, but you seem perfectly human to me."

"Huh?" her friend said intelligently.

Videl rolled her eyes. "I'm saying that even if you are an alien like you claim, it doesn't make any difference. You don't have to prove anything to me."

Gohan continued to look up at her in surprise for a long moment, then he smiled widely and nodded. "Thanks, Videl. I'm glad you're my friend."

Videl felt her cheeks warm again and she turned her face away to hide her blush. "Yeah. Don't mention it."

After that, they pulled themselves off the ground and returned to their practice and Videl put thoughts of aliens and handsome boys from her mind in favor of working up a good sweat. Honestly, she couldn't fathom what had come over her. Perhaps Gohan had some kind of alien magnetism that compelled her to act in ways she normally wouldn't. Whatever the case, she wouldn't waste time worrying about it.

That's what she told herself, anyway.

oO0Oo

* * *

Gohan's secret is out! Kind of. I deliberated for a while about which secret of his to reveal first and in the end I went backwards of most people and decided to have Gohan admit to his Saiyan ancestry. It just fit better with the story.

 **For anyone who's interested** , I'm actually a bit of an artist and I doodled a bunch of related sketches while I was writing this story. Some of them are scenes from the fic and others are more concept art from when I was deciding the sort of story I wanted to write. They're not prime art or anything, but if you're interested in seeing some of them I've put a few on tumblr.

Link: cabbage-foam. tumblr (dotcom) /post/178484088122/thirty-five-smiles-sketch-dump

Jeez, the lengths you have to go to in order to sneak a link into your story these days... I hope you all can figure out how to make that url work.

 **To Iwik:** Ha! Count away! I tell no lies.


	6. Chapter Six

Got a few more sketches for you. Some of you may have seen these already. I posted them late last evening. These ones include some concepts of young Erasa and Sharpner. These aren't necessarily Thirty-Five Smiles "canon" but I thought it would be fun to share my own ideas of what those two might've looked like in junior high.

Once, again, I'm sorry for the hot mess of a link.

cabbage-foam. tumblr (dotcom) /post/178500284842/thirty-five-smiles-sketches-2

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

No matter how hard she tried to put the incident from her mind, Videl did not forget the kiss she'd shared with, or rather, forced upon Gohan. They continued to spend time together and practice the Soaring Monkey Style and work on homework as if nothing had happened, and Videl was glad for that, but ever since the kiss her feelings about Gohan had begun to change.

Now, all of a sudden, she was noticing him in ways she hadn't before. Perhaps this was what people meant when they talked about attraction. She noticed suddenly that his outfit, which she'd always thought was a little silly, actually looked very fetching on him. The loose material of his shirt contorted when he moved in a way that both hinted at and accentuated his lithe form. The billowy pants gave him the freedom to demonstrate his flexibility when they practiced together. His thin, slipper-like shoes were a testament to the raw power contained in his body, as they showed he didn't require any extra oomph from steel tipped boots like other martial artists his age. He was a delight to look upon; magnificent. Nothing like her father's burly pupils.

She also disproportionately enjoyed when he touched her. When they practiced their forms, she felt special, like she had a bond with him that nobody else did. He knew just how to move with her and support her and the more they trained together, the tighter their choreography became. She enjoyed every minute they spent together and from what she could tell, he did too. With each session, he was growing less reserved about demonstrating his skill and he'd even begun taking the initiative from time to time in selecting the next move for them to try and pushing both of them to achieve ever greater mastery.

Soon, Videl found she'd stopped going to her father's gym entirely. She was having more fun and getting a better workout with Gohan so she saw no need to stand around wailing on punching bags or humoring her dad's students with fights they couldn't hope to win. She was beginning to truly believe that if she kept training with Gohan, her skills would eventually improve to the point where she'd be able to challenge the world champ himself.

A part of her wondered if she should introduce Gohan to her dad. Not as a potential boyfriend, of course, but as a martial artist. Gohan was so skilled that they could probably find a lot to talk about. Maybe the world champ could even talk him into joining the next World Martial Arts Tournament. The next one wasn't for two more years, but the thought of facing Gohan in the ring made her blood sing with excitement. She knew he'd give her the challenge she'd been craving.

She decided then and there that she would talk to her dad about meeting Gohan. If nothing else, it would be good for Gohan to get to know him. They'd become such good friends that it was a little odd they hadn't met each other's parents yet. In Gohan's case it made sense because his mom lived far away in the mountains, but Gohan was in Satan City every day for school. There was no reason to put it off any longer.

o0o

* * *

"Videl, sweetie," her father greeted her in his usual fashion: with overwhelming dotage. "I'm glad you finally came to talk to me. You've been so scarce lately and there's something I've been wanting to speak with you about."

Videl gave her father a hug and smiled up at him, partially in an effort to butter him up. "Me too, Dad. Actually, there's someone I want you to meet."

Mr. Satan's eyebrows shot up and then lowered almost suspiciously over his eyes. "Do you now?" he intoned with more curiosity than was usual when she brought up inviting a friend to meet him. "And who might this person be?"

Videl was a little thrown off by her dad's odd mannerism, but she pressed on all the same. "He's a friend from school," she said, hoping to get her whole statement out before her dad could zero in on the sensitive pronoun.

Alas, her father seemed to be waiting for exactly that pronoun because he jumped on it faster than a starving rat on a hotdog. " _AHA!_ I knew it! You've been seeing a _BOY!_ "

Videl sighed and brought a tired hand to her forehead. _Here we go,_ she thought.

"Now, Videl. I've told you a hundred times that you need to be more discerning around boys. You never know what those creepy horndogs could be up to. I'm glad you finally brought this up because it's precisely what I wanted to talk to you about."

Videl groaned.

This, of course, only served to fan her father's ire. "Don't you groan at me, young lady. I happen to know for a fact that you've been getting cozy with a boy. You were seen engaging in intimate acts right in my very own gym."

Videl spluttered. _"Intimate acts?"_ she repeated incredulously. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

Mr. Satan loomed over his daughter with crossed arms. "Samuel told me the whole story. He said you brought some bleached hair kid into the gym, gave him a private tour, and then _snuggled_ with him in the sparring ring. Now, do you deny these accusations? I want to hear the truth straight from your own mouth, Videl."

Videl, as was usual when these sorts of discussions cropped up, found herself quickly losing her temper. There ought to be a limit to how overbearing a father could be. "Oh, my god, Dad. Gohan and I weren't _snuggling_. I was giving him a hug—as his _friend_ —because I made him relive a bad memory. There's nothing at all romantic going on between us."

Mr. Satan clearly wasn't convinced. "I'll bet he told you some sob story so you would let your guard down." He nodded like this was the only plausible explanation. "Yeah, I'm sure that's what he did. Boys like him are all the same. Next, he'll ask you for a date. Then a kiss. Then—"

"Dad!" Videl shouted this time. To her relief, her father was actually silenced by her outburst. When she was sure she had his attention, she returned her voice to its normal volume. "You haven't even met him. There's no way for you to know what he's like. I know you have this idea that all boys are slime, but that's precisely why I want you to meet him. Gohan isn't like other boys. He's respectful and considerate and he's been a very good friend to me these past few months. He's a very talented martial artist and I think meeting you could inspire him to enter the next World Martial Arts Tournament."

Mr. Satan was quiet for once as he blinked down at his daughter dumbly. Videl could see the gears in his head turning. "Wait," he spoke after a time. "So, you're telling me…" he paused to lean in slightly, "that you want me to meet this kid…to convince him to enter the tournament in two years?"

Videl nodded. Finally, she was getting through to him. "Yeah, Dad. That's exactly what I'm telling you."

Mr. Satan hummed and returned to his full height, scratching his chin. "So, you…don't have feelings for this boy?"

Despite her willing them not to, Videl felt her cheeks redden just slightly at her dad's implication. " _No_. He's _just_ a friend." There was no way she was telling him that lately she'd been thinking about Gohan in a not so 'just friends'y light. She would cross that bridge with him another time. Far, _far_ in the future.

Her father hummed again and stared her in the eye for a long moment as if evaluating her truthfulness. Finally, he spoke again. "Well, I still don't trust him," he said frankly. She started to protest but he held up a hand. "But I'll meet with him if that's what you want. In fact, I insist on it. I'll put the fear of pain in him myself. Keep him in line. If he proves to me that he's the gentleman you say he is, I'll _consider_ giving him some encouragement from the world's savior. After all, I do want my precious daughter to have a good fight." He uncrossed his arms and moved them to his hips. "What do you say to that?"

Honestly, it was quite a generous compromise given how poorly the conversation had begun, so Videl didn't have any reservations about accepting it. She would just warn Gohan ahead of time about what he would be getting into and everything would be fine.

"I _guess_ that's fair," she said, injecting a note of protest into her tone for posterity. "Just try not to judge him too harshly before you've even met him, okay? You're the champ, remember. The man every boy aspires to become. He probably sees you as a hero." She was shamelessly buttering again. Doing this always felt a bit underhanded, but she wasn't going to let that stop her as long as it got her what she wanted.

Her father puffed out his chest proudly just as she knew he would. He'd fallen for her little white lie hook, line and sinker. She wondered if she could convince Gohan to play along; ham up being a fanboy. The thought made her chuckle. Gohan just wasn't the type to fawn over someone like her dad.

Still, she was certain meeting him would give Gohan the push he needed toward rekindling any love he might once have had for martial arts. Her dad was the champ, after all. He was the hero who defeated Cell. If he couldn't inspire Gohan to fight again, no one could.

o0o

* * *

"I don't know if this is such a good idea, Videl…"

Videl responded to Gohan's protests by tugging harder on his hand. She knew Gohan was reluctant to meet her dad, but she wasn't going to take no for an answer. It was important to her that Gohan meet him. It wasn't even strictly about convincing him to join the tournament. An equally important reason for taking her friend to meet her father was that she wanted her dad to get used to the idea of Gohan being around.

"Your dad's a very busy man and I'm sure he has more important things to do than meet me," Gohan continued to protest, though he allowed her to drag him along.

Videl looked at him over her shoulder. They were nearly to the gym now. "Gohan, he _wants_ to meet you. I promise it'll be fine. He can be a bit of a brute, but he's a nice guy."

Gohan responded by squeezing her hand, an action that caused her heart to skip a beat. She turned her face back to the front before he could see her blush.

A few moments later, they arrived before the grand doors of the Satan Gym. Beyond those doors, her father waited. She hoped he would act reasonably and not try to scare Gohan away first thing.

She turned to Gohan and placed her hands on his shoulder. "Just be yourself and don't let him intimidate you," she instructed with a confident smile. "And remember, he's just my dad. He's not going to eat you alive."

Gohan grimaced. "…Right. Sure."

Her piece said, Videl grabbed the doors and pulled them open. Gohan exhaled one last sigh and followed her inside.

Just as she'd predicted he would, her father had gathered up all of his pupils and they stood, large and menacing, on either side of him while the champ himself stood in the center of the room facing the door with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. Videl sighed at the dramatics of it all. Her father could never do anything normally. She ushered Gohan toward him and called, "Hey, Dad. We're here."

Her father responded by exhaling through his nose and opening his eyes. "Alright, Videl. Who's this boy you wanted me to meet? Bring him forward and let's see what he's made of."

Videl rolled her eyes and stepped aside. Coming from behind her, Gohan squared his shoulders and stepped forward, his brow set at a determined angle.

To Videl's ire, her dad wasted no time in starting the accusations flowing. He puffed himself up and stared Gohan down as if he were no more important than a lost caterpillar and said, "So, _boy_ , just where do you think you get off trying to seduce the daughter of the world—"

Much to his daughter's confusion, he stopped abruptly. Videl looked up from the exercise machine she'd elected to watch apathetically while her dad went through his usual tirade and found that his eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates and his jaw had gone slack. He was looking at Gohan as if he were seeing a ghost.

Gohan, for his part, merely held up a hand and politely said, "Hello, Mr. Satan. It's nice to meet you."

Her dad made a noise that was somewhere between a gurgle and an "Eep!" His arms fell from his chest to dangle at his sides. "Y-you…" he spoke weakly. "You're the boy my Videl has been seeing?"

Videl looked between Gohan and her father, confused. What was this strange reaction? She turned to her father and placed her hands on her hips. "Do you know Gohan, Dad?"

Mr. Satan still appeared to be struggling to speak. His mouth opened and closed like a fish as if he wasn't sure how to answer.

Thankfully, Gohan took it upon himself to explain. He offered her a meek smile and said, "Um, we've met before, actually. This is our first time talking, though. We both showed up to the same competition a while back and I got to see your dad fight." He turned back to her father and offered him a friendly smile. "Isn't that right, Mr. Satan?"

Her father closed his mouth and nodded dumbly. Finding his voice again, he said, "Y-yeah. That's…right."

Videl blinked at both of them and crossed her arms. "Is that so?" Looking back at Gohan, she asked, "Well, jeez, why didn't you tell me? I would've taken you to meet him sooner if I'd known you knew each other already."

Gohan lifted his hand to the back of his head and laughed somewhat nervously. "Sorry. My bad."

Suddenly, he father stepped toward them and cleared his throat. "Um, Videl, Sweetpea, would it be alright if I talked to your friend alone for a minute?"

Videl's smile turned to a frown as her confusion returned. Now her dad wanted to talk to Gohan alone? He was acting awfully strange today. In any case, she didn't see anything wrong with allowing the two to have a private chat so she shrugged and said, "Uh, yeah, sure. Go ahead."

Mr. Satan nodded and turned to Gohan. "Well…Gohan. Why don't you step into the back room with me?" He placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and began steering him toward the back. "We'll only be a moment, Videl," he called back to her. "Why don't you go call Davis and have him prepare some tea at the house?"

Videl cocked her head to the side as she watched her father and Gohan disappear through the backroom's door. "I guess this means he likes him?" she spoke to herself, still very confused.

Beside her, her father's students looked around at each other and shrugged.

o0o

* * *

Mr. Satan waved his daughter and her friend off with a tight smile. The moment they were out of sight, he let out a great sigh and his posture crumpled. Of all the young men his daughter could have brought home, she had to bring that monster boy. After seven months without a peep from the strange martial artists who'd fought Cell that day, he'd begun to think he'd never have to concern himself with them again. But no. Right when he'd thought he was safe, who else but the superpowered delivery boy himself shows up at his door with his daughter.

For all his buffoonery, Mr. Satan was a smart enough man to understand what this meant. Somehow, whether by coincidence or karma, Videl had crossed paths with this boy, and Mr. Satan got the feeling he wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"Why me?" he lamented as he closed the door behind them. "Why couldn't Videl have found a nice jock? I'm going to be haunted by that kid for the rest of my life, I just know it."

oO0Oo

* * *

What did Gohan and Mr. Satan talk about? You'll just have to wonder since Videl wasn't present for it. Never fear, though, because Mr. Satan will be back.

Not my best chapter. I sacrificed my editing time to get it up today since it's a shorter one. I'm trying to get accepted into graduate school right now so a lot of my time is going toward prerequisite classes. So much math homework. I suck at math worse than a dead tuna.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

" _What?!_ You took Gohan to meet your dad?!"

Videl leaned back on her hands to distance her ears from Erasa's shriek. Beside the two girls, Gohan and Sharpner continued to eat as if the blonde's elevated decibels didn't affect them in the slightest.

Erasa rounded on Gohan. "How'd it go? Did he yell at you? Did he forbid you from ever talking to Videl again? If so, you're a very brave person to be sitting here eating with her like normal."

Gohan finished chewing his bit of sandwich and swallowed before responding. "He was really nice, actually," he said, to the surprise of everyone present. "We had a talk and he gave me his blessing to be Videl's friend. I don't know why he has such a bad reputation with boys. He seemed very reasonable to me."

Sharpner dropped his chopsticks. "Dude…" he said, his tone caught between amazement and disbelief. "I don't know what you said to him, but you must have really impressed him to not be immediately run off."

Gohan looked at him with large eyes. "Is that what he did to you?"

Sharpner recoiled and waved a hand violently. "Are you kidding? I've never gone to meet him. I value my life!"

"But Sharpner wants to," Erasa chimed back in. "He's been training really hard to become Mr. Satan's student someday. The champ won't take just anyone, though. You have to be _really_ strong."

Videl smiled. Erasa had just given her the perfect opening. "Speaking of which," she inserted herself casually into the conversation. "Gohan, what did you think of my dad? Pretty strong, huh?"

Gohan took another bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. After a moment, he said, "Yeah, he's definitely no pushover. But you could beat him."

On either side of them, Erasa and Sharpner's jaws hit the floor. Videl herself recoiled in surprise. "What? No way! It'll be a million years before I'll even come close to being a match for my dad. He's the strongest fighter in the world!"

Gohan popped the last of his sandwich in his mouth and said nothing. He just looked at her impassively.

His expression caused Videl to raise her eyebrows. "I mean…right?" She looked to Erasa and Sharpner for confirmation.

Sharpner nodded furiously. "Well, yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, you're a beast, but Mr. Satan is on a whole other level. He beat _Cell_. There's not a person in this world who could touch him. Not without an army, anyway."

Videl turned back to Gohan and nodded. "Right. So thanks or the vote of confidence, Gohan, but I think I'll pass on fighting my dad for now. Maybe in a few more years I'll give it a shot."

The group, sans Gohan, laughed and went back to their lunch. Belatedly, Videl realized that she'd forgotten to ask Gohan about the tournament, but she shrugged the matter off and elected to visit the topic again another time. It wasn't as if the tournament was going anywhere.

o0o

* * *

"Any progress on the Gohan front?" Krillin asked, once again standing beside Piccolo on the edge of the lookout. This time they were joined by Dende and Mr. Popo.

Piccolo cocked his head and frowned seriously. "He still isn't training," he reported in his gravelly timber. "But I think his resolve is weakening. He's been dipping his toes into kung fu."

Krillin's eyebrows shot way up. "Kung fu? Really?" He scratched his head where a black carpet of stubble had begun to grow. "Why'd he decide to do that?"

Piccolo continued to look down from the lookout, watching something Krillin couldn't see. "It started as a project for school but I think he's taken an interest. He's got a friend encouraging him."

Krillin made a show of leaning out over the edge of the lookout as if trying to see what Piccolo was seeing. "Like, a school friend?"

When Piccolo didn't answer immediately, Dende chose to insert himself into their conversation. "She goes to his school, yes, but he's been consorting with her longer than that. She's the one who convinced him to go to school."

Krillin nearly toppled off the edge of the lookout and was forced to swing his arms wildly to keep his balance. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute!" he exclaimed when he'd righted himself and was safely away from the edge. "Did you say _she?_ As in a girl?"

Dende nodded. "That's right. She's been trying to get him to resume training. Very persistently."

Krillin rounded on Piccolo. "Why didn't you say anything about this? Oh, my god, does Chichi know? I can't believe Gohan got himself a girlfriend and didn't tell any of us! I thought we were bros…"

Piccolo sighed and turned from his observation to glare at Krillin. "Gohan is entitled to his privacy. When he wants to tell us, he will. Anyway, Bulma, Yamcha, and Vegeta already know."

Krillin's shoulders drooped. "Great. Everyone knew but me. Typical." He straightened and placed his hands on his hips. "So, do you think he's planning to introduce us anytime soon?"

Piccolo returned to his vigilance, his body language giving nothing away. "We'll see."

o0o

* * *

Videl yawned and stretched her arms high above her head. School had been exhausting that day what with back to back exams in history and Math and their triannual fitness test in P.E. She was well and truly pooped.

Gohan walked beside her with his nose buried in a textbook. Their English teacher had assigned a new chapter for homework and as usual Gohan had jumped on his homework the minute the last bell had rung.

"Careful," she said to him as they came to a point where a large tree root had broken through the sidewalk. "One of these days you're going to trip doing that."

Gohan hopped over the root and hummed to show he was listening.

Videl yawned again. "Man, I'm beat," she announced as much to herself as her companion. "Hey, what do you say we chill at my place today? Play some video games or something. I need a break from the physical stuff."

Gohan finally looked up from his textbook. "Go to your place?" he repeated. "Sure. I don't mind. I'll need to call my mom, though."

Videl nodded and fished in her bag for her phone. She dug it out and handed it to him. "Here. Use this."

Gohan took the phone and dialed his home number. Videl heard ringing in the speaker and then a feminine voice answered. "Hi, mom?" Gohan started, "I was wondering if it would be alright if I'm a little late this evening…"

Opting to give her friend some privacy, Videl walked a little further up the street. They were near a park and she could see a couple of children playing on an elephant shaped jungle gym. A man who she assumed was one or both of their father sat on a bench nearby reading a newspaper. As Videl wandered toward them, a woman dressed in a business suit called to across the playground. "Come on, Ethan! We're heading home now!"

At her call, one of the children hopped down from the jungle gym and waved goodbye to his friend before running off toward the lady.

Videl had nearly reached the play area when the man on the bench closed his newspaper and pulled out a phone. He appeared to type a message before closing it and stuffing it back in his pocket. Not a minute later, a white, windowless van drove into the parking lot near the playground and stopped right by the jungle gym. As Videl looked on, the man stood from the bench and approached the child still playing by himself.

At once, warning bells began going off in Videl's head. These bells only grew louder when the man appeared to introduce himself to the child and then pointed to the van. Videl's eyes narrowed and she picked up her pace. "Hey!" she called to the man who was now leading the child toward the vehicle. "Do you know that child? Where are you taking him?"

The man froze momentarily at the sound of her voice, then, suddenly, he scooped up the kid and began running for the van. Videl cried out and immediately began giving chase. "Stop right there! Kidnappers!"

Unfortunately, no one else was around to hear her scream. The van's door opened and the kid was thrust inside into a pair of burly arms and the man followed quickly behind, jumping in and slamming the door behind him. The van's engine roared to life and Videl reached it just as the tires squealed and it began to move.

Before the vehicle could drive out of range, Videl lunged for it and managed to grab a handle on the side. As the van took off out of the parking lot and onto the main road, she pounded on the side with her fist. "Hey! Open up! Where are you taking him?!"

In an attempt to dislodge her, the van whipped hard around a corner, causing horns to blare in protest. Videl hung on for all she was worth and managed to keep from flying off only to be thrown the other way when the van turned again and began plowing down a narrow side street. Videl cried out in pain as she was slammed hard into a dumpster and finally she let go, rolling onto the street and skinning her unprotected arms and legs in the process.

She though the van would drive away, but the moment she was off, it stopped. The door opened and the man from before hopped out. Videl tried to scream at him, but her body was in too much pain from the combination of her collision and fall. She could only groan as the man hoisted her up onto his shoulder and returned to the van. The next thing she knew, the back door was sliding open and she was being thrown inside. She lost consciousness just as the van began to move again. The last thing she saw before darkness took her was the mustached face of a man she vaguely recognized, but from where, she couldn't recall.

o0o

* * *

The next time Videl opened her eyes, she was in an unfamiliar location and everything hurt.

She tried to move, but to her dismay, she found that her hands and feet had been bound. She tasted blood and ran her tongue over her teeth to found that she'd broken one. _Just great_.

She groaned and attempted to lift her head to see if she could get any clues as to where she was. The room she was in was dim and chilly. She saw crates with fancy writing on the sides and shelves packed with dark colored bottles situated along the walls. The evidence pointed pretty clearly to her being in a wine cellar.

She attempted again to struggle out of her bonds and that's when a door opened, flooding the room with light. A person-shaped shadow appeared against the glow and then a man was walking down the short set of steps leading up to the door. It was the same man from the van. The one with the mustache.

"Videl Satan," he greeted, his voice familiar in her ears just as his face was. It was a gravelly, unhurried drawl. "Well, if this isn't my lucky day. Not only were we able to nab the governor's kid, I got my hands on the champ's in the process. Someone up there must be lookin' out for me."

Videl grunted and craned her neck to see him better. "Who are you?" she croaked, ignoring the pain in her body. "I've seen you somewhere before."

The man chuckled and grabbed a bottle off the shelf closest to him. As she watched, he pulled a corkscrew from his pocket and made short work of opening the bottle. He threw the cork over his shoulder and took a long draught. "Ahh," he said after he pulled the bottle from his lips with an audible pop. "That's the _good_ shit. Perfect to celebrate my good fortune today." He brought the bottle back to his mouth and took another long pull.

Being ignored only served to stoke Videl's ire. "Hey! I asked you a question!" she reminded him, giving him the fiercest glare she could muster from the floor.

The man grunted and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I heard ya, y'runt." He let the bottle slide through his grip until he held it by the neck and stalked over to where she lay. She continued to glare up at him petulantly all the while, showing him she wasn't intimidated. Her stubbornness was quickly doused, however, when without warning he whipped his arm down and smashed the bottle right by her head. Wine and glass flew everywhere and she barely managed to close her eyes in time to protect them from the jagged shrapnel.

"Not feeling so confident now, I'd wager," the man said, his tone suddenly deadly serious. "I don't play around, honey, and I'm not a patient man. You're going to sit there quietly and respectfully or I'm going to put a bottle through your face next time, am I clear?"

Videl's face went white and she nodded mutely.

"Good girl," he said, running the broken edge of what remained of his bottle over her cheek. She felt stinging pain as the glass sliced into her flesh but she didn't make a sound. "Now, you'll be pleased to know that I've already notified your daddy that I have you. I'm expecting him to pay me very handsomely for your return. That being said, it's of no consequence to me if you make it back to him breathing or not. I'm going to leave that up to you."

The man stood and threw the broken bottle away, allowing it to crash indiscriminately against a wall. Videl fought not to flinch at the sound.

He turned around and began walking to the door and Videl thought that would be the end of it, but then he stopped and spoke again. "Your daddy ruined my life, you know. That last world championship was meant to be mine. I'd turned away from crime and trained honestly for seven years to enter that competition, but your old man was scared of losing so he exposed my past in order to get me disqualified. As far as I'm concerned, this is justice."

His bit said, the man tromped back up the steps to the door and left without another word, slamming it behind him and engulfing her in darkness once more.

Now Videl knew where she'd seen him before. He was Rex Rodney, a famous martial artist once hailed as the best of the best. She remembered him getting disqualified from the tournament but hadn't known why. So, it had been her father's doing. She spit put a glob of blood and saliva and glared at the door Rex had disappeared through. Even if what he said was true, she had no sympathy for a man who would turn to violence and extortion to get what he wanted.

God, but she was in trouble this time. She'd had no way of knowing that chasing after a kidnapper would land her in such a mess. She couldn't even use her phone to call for help because she'd given it to Gohan.

Her eyes widened. _Gohan_. He was probably so confused. She'd just up and disappeared on him. She wondered if he was still out there looking for her. How much time had passed? She had no way of knowing.

The one thing she did know was that she needed to get out of here. She wouldn't allow her mistake to cost her dad the fortune he'd earned honestly. Her eyes fell on the broken pieces of the bottle that lay around her head and she got an idea. If she could get her hands on a big enough piece, there was a chance she could saw off her bindings.

The next half hour was dedicated to putting her plan into motion. It was difficult to grasp the wet glass and she ended up cutting herself several times in the process, but eventually she got her hands on a piece large enough and the right shape to saw through her bindings. She hissed as the glass slipped and cut into her wrist but she didn't stop. She was determined to free herself from this hellish cellar.

She'd made it about half way through the rope when the shard she was holding cracked and broke off, one half getting lodged between her wrists. She cried out as the glass dug into her skin and warm blood ran down onto her hands. Tears of both pain and frustration pricked at her eyes. There was no way to remove the piece with her hands bound and now she could no longer move her hands to saw without risking opening an artery. Just her damn luck, she lamented in her head. How could a day go so right for a criminal and so wrong for her?

She lay there for a good twenty minutes, unable to move and unable to remove the glass that had buried itself deep into her skin. Movies always made escaping from captivity look so easy. They never accounted for things like breaking tools.

With nothing else to do, she thought about her father and her friends and what was going to happen to her. She wished she'd never chased that van. The kid's fate was out of her hands either way. She should be at home playing video games with Gohan and pigging out on junk food. This was supposed to be her rest day. Now she was locked in a cellar bleeding out onto the floor and she didn't know if she'd ever see her dad or Gohan again.

Eventually, Videl fell asleep. With nothing else to do but regret her actions, she was happy when darkness finally took her.

oO0Oo

* * *

大ピンチ！めっちゃ危ない状況に追い込まれた。悟飯君助けて！

Got some new art from this chapter.  
cabbage-foam. tumblr (dotcom) /post/178576480727/even-more-doodles

 **To Iwik:** lol! You're actually counting! I didn't think anyone would actually do it. Every smile counts so long as it's from Gohan. Other characters' smiles aren't counted. I was going to reveal that at the end, but since you're already counting, I suppose I should specify that. (Though it looks like you've figured it out regardless). To help you out, I'll tell you that the number of smiles in the first five chapters was eighteen.

I've had a few people ask me how it is that nobody recognizes Gohan from the Cell Games footage. This is a very good question and the answer is underwhelming. Basically, what it comes down to is that nobody expects the nerdy transfer students to be some badass fighter/actor. Imagine if you saw a dude with a purple mohawk Evil Knievel over the grand canyon on TV one time and then six months later you saw a similar-looking dude hanging out at an arcade. You probably wouldn't instantly suspect the two were the same person. You'd more likely think, "Hey, that dude has the same hairstyle as the guy who jumped the grand canyon," or "Wow, purple mohawks must be in right now." It's like that.


	8. Chapter Eight

Thanks for patiently waiting. Enjoy the new chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter Eight**

The next time Videl awoke, Rex had returned. She was jolted out of unconsciousness when he kicked her sharply in the side, sending her rolling across the floor and into a wine rack. She though the rack would fall on her, burying her in shattered glass, but although it wobbled dangerously, it remained upright. Unfortunately, the impact knocked her wrists together, jamming the stuck piece of glass all the way through to the bone. She screamed in pain and was rewarded with another kick.

"Good news, missy. Your daddy's come for you."

Videl only coughed in response. Her gums ached where her tooth had shattered and her body couldn't take any more of a beating than it already had so she elected not to say anything to further incur her captor's wrath.

Though she held her tongue, a spark of hope ignited within her. If her dad was here, she had a chance of getting away from this wretched place. She still wasn't okay with being traded for money, but at least she knew who her captor was, which meant they could report him to the police and track him down later.

Rex hauled her up by the back of her shirt and his nose crinkled in disgust when he saw the blood dripping down her hands. "Eugh, you've made a mess all over the floor. Good thing I don't own this house."

Videl didn't bother trying to struggle as Rex dragged her across the room, up the stairs, and out of the cellar. Her number one priority now was making it to her father in one piece.

It turned out the cellar was located in the basement of what looked to be some manner of mansion, though the style was very different from that of her own. The décor was rustic and she could see fir trees through the windows they passed. She wondered if Rex had taken over some rich person's mountain villa to use as a temporary base of operations.

After what seemed like days to Videl's dizzy, oxygen-starved mind, they finally reached the foyer. There, a sizeable group of men was gathered, seemingly waiting for them. From the rough look of them, Videl guessed these were Rex's subordinates. Many were dressed as martial artists and a few carried firearms.

"Do you see these men all gathered here?" Rex spoke to her slowly as he dragged her to the center of the room. "Each person in this room has a gripe with your daddy. Moment I had you, I called 'em up. All of us here, we've been waitin' for a chance to give that son of a bitch a little taste of hell."

Videl's eyes widened. She had a very bad feeling about what he meant by that.

"Now, then." He reaffirmed his grip on her shirt and marched her toward the door. "Let's go see what color the world champ bleeds."

Videl's heart sped up as the door was opened and then she was outside. Just as she'd thought, she was in the mountains. The sun had clearly set some time ago and the only light came from the mansion's windows. Videl looked around but she saw no one. The drive appeared empty.

"Come on out, Champ!" Rex called into the night. "I got your daughter right here." He shook her roughly and Videl couldn't stop herself from crying out in pain as her bruised ribs protested. She felt so useless. Completely and utterly. She was supposed to be a fighter, but instead she was no better than a piece of meat being dangled in front of a dog. For the second time since her capture, tears of shame welled up in her eyes.

A moment passed in which nothing seemed to happen. Then, slowly, a lone figure materialized from out of the darkness walking toward them at a leisurely pace. Videl squinted to see who it was and was confused when instead of a brown gi and bushy afro, the light from the windows illuminated a white changshan. The person continued their unhurried approach and the shadows moved to reveal a youthful face and unruly pale-blond hair.

Videl's heart leapt into her mouth. That wasn't her father. That was—

"Who're you, son?" Rex called out to him, sounding annoyed. "You're either lost or your head don't work right because I made it very clear that the only man oughtta be walkin' up that drive is the world champion."

Gohan didn't bat an eyelid at Rex's threat. He simply continued to walk toward them until he was about fifteen feet away, then he stopped. Now that Videl was able to see his face, she saw that he was wearing an expression she'd never seen on him before. His mouth was set in a tight line and his eyes were narrowed and colder than her kitchen's industrial sized freezer. He looked livid.

"Gohan…!" she attempted to cry out to him, trying to warn him to stay away, but a beefy hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her.

Gohan's eyes travelled over her. She could see him taking in her dirty clothes and numerous scrapes. His gaze shifted downward to her bloodied hands and then to the ground beneath her where she knew a sizable puddle had already formed.

"You haven't answered my question, boy!" Rex spoke again, his tone dangerous. "Who are you and where's the world champ? Don't tell me he cares so little about his daughter that he won't even show up in person to get her back?"

Gohan's eyes flicked up to her captor. His expression didn't change. At last he spoke, but it wasn't in the friendly, easygoing tone she was used to. "Mr. Satan is here as promised. You can meet him once you get through me."

Videl balked. What on Earth was Gohan thinking? He was going to get himself murdered! He was strong, but he was no match for a man like Rex. Not to mention all the fighters waiting in the house. The only person who stood a chance of taking on all those people and coming out victorious was her dad.

Rex responded by chuckling darkly. "Get through you? Son, as delightful as that sounds, I don't think you understand the situation. I asked for the champ to come alone. That was the deal."

Videl felt Rex's arm move and heard rustling fabric, then, to her horror, she felt the touch of cool metal against her cheek. Her eyes slid to the side and she was just barely able to make out the tip of a blade in the corner of her vision. Her blood ran cold.

"If this girl's daddy isn't going to follow the deal, then I'm not either. In my experience, a man'll pay just as much for his daughter's body as her safe return. You can run on back to Mr. Satan and let him know what his mistake has cost him."

What happened next was too fast for Videl to keep up. One moment, Rex had the blade and was moving it to her throat to make good on his threat, and the next, a hand was wrapped firmly around his wrist, holding it in place, and Gohan stood directly in front of her, the blade now magically in his grasp. Videl watched with wide eyes as Gohan tossed the knife a few inches into the air and caught it by the blade. Without turning his eyes from Rex, he flicked his wrist and Videl heard the distinct thunk of the blade sinking into the wood of the house behind them.

"What in the—!" Rex's voice had lost its normal cool. Videl lifted her chin to look at him and saw him staring at Gohan with wide eyes. "When did you—"

Rex didn't get to finish. Videl heard the crackling of what sounded like bone and her captor let out a stilted cry of pain. She felt Rex's grip on her loosen and she took the opportunity to break out of his grasp. She nearly fell when the pain from her injuries plowed into her like a semi-truck, but Gohan's arm came around her and gently pulled her against him.

"Mr. Rodney," Gohan spoke, his tone as frigid as his gaze. "I'm now going to explain to you exactly what's going to happen. The police are going to arrive in about ten minutes. They are going to recite your Miranda rights and you are going to peacefully give yourself up. You will be put on trial for multiple accounts of aggravated assault, kidnapping, and extortion, and when you are convicted, you will spend the next twenty to thirty years in prison. During that time, you are going to think about what you've done." Gohan lowered his chin then and even Videl wanted to flinch away at the look in his eyes as he glared coolly up at the much larger man. "But more than that, you're going to remember _me_."

Videl really did flinch away when Gohan jerked his hand and she heard Rex's wrist snap with a sickening crack. The man howled and Videl saw his knees buckle, but before he could fall, Gohan slammed a knee into his stomach, sending him staggering backward. The man barely managed to stay upright and as she watched, a trail of drool dribble from his mouth. He wiped it away with his good arm.

"You…!" he managed to wheeze out as he wobbled dangerously on weak legs. "I'm going to kill you, _boy!"_

Gohan didn't move and he didn't appear threatened. He turned this attention away from the seething man to look at her instead.

"G-Gohan…" she tried to speak to him but he placed a finger on her lips, silencing her.

"Don't speak, Videl. Here." He pulled a small bag from somewhere in his clothes and emptied it into his palm, revealing, of all things, a single brown bean. He used both hands to rip away the rope binding her wrists and then lifted one of her hands and placed the bean in it. "Eat this. It'll make you feel better." His tone had returned to its normal soft alto and this helped to chase some of her anxiety away.

She looked at the bean oddly, wondering just how such a thing was meant to make her feel better, but she trusted Gohan and so she raised it to her lips and popped it into her mouth. It was hard and difficult to chew with her broken tooth, but she persevered. As she crunched away at the mysterious legume, Gohan untied her ankles and then returned his attention to Rex. His eyes regained their steely glint.

The man appeared to have recovered somewhat and he'd adopted a fighting stance. He was eyeing Gohan with undisguised fury. "I'll teach you to take your focus off your opponent in a fight," he said lowly. "You should know better. After all, you never know what he might do."

Suddenly, Videl remembered that Rex wasn't alone. Before she could cry out to warn Gohan about the men in the house, the deafening crack of a gunshot split the air. Videl screamed and ducked down. When no sudden pain erupted from any point on her body, she looked up to check on Gohan. To her relief, he stood in the same position, unharmed. The shot appeared to have missed.

"Well, shucks," she heard a voice come from one of the upstairs windows. "I'm usually a better shot than that."

Videl looked up and saw a man wearing a cowboy hat sitting on the ledge of the window directly above the front door. He had a stock of wheat between his teeth and a red, checkered scarf tied around his neck. "Ain't no matter. We got more'n enough manpower to take out one uppity punk."

Following his statement, the front door opened and Rex's veritable army of thugs came spilling out. Videl watched the fist-fighters crack their knuckles and the armed few ready their weapons. She recoiled, taking a few steps backward toward the tree line. This was bad.

"Videl," Gohan called back to her. He still sounded calm. "Get ready to fight."

Videl whipped her head around to stare at him. Fight? She could barely stand let alone—

It was then that she realized that her body no longer hurt. She brought her hands up to pat at her bruised ribs but felt no pain. She looked down at her wrists. They were still coated in blood but both the glass and the cuts were gone as if they'd never existed. Hardly believing what she was seeing, she ran her tongue over her teeth and to her great shock found her shattered tooth whole once more. What in the world happened? It couldn't be due to the bean Gohan had given her. There was just no way.

Videl shook her head and determined to worry about her body's mysterious healing later. Right now, she needed to help Gohan. She clenched her fists and stepped forward to stand beside him. Gohan looked at her and smiled.

"Kill those brats and then find and kill Mr. Satan!" Rex called to his men, levelling the index finger of his uninjured hand at the two of them.

The assembled men obeyed eagerly and the next thing Videl knew, she and Gohan were being borne down upon by a tidal wave of beefy ruffians.

Videl rushed forward to meet them, the knowledge that she wasn't fighting alone bolstering her confidence. She plowed into the crowd, fists flying and legs kicking. A large, bald man attempted to grab her but she ducked under his lunge and slammed her foot into his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. She then proceeded to jam her elbow down onto the back of his neck, cleanly felling him. With the benefit of dexterity and speed on her side, she made short work of three more thugs on her own and then joined Gohan in sending a larger man flying, the two of them both planting a foot in his chest as if they were a single entity. The man landed on his back with a pained groan and she and Gohan shared a high five before parting again to take on their own opponents.

Videl found herself grinning as she mowed down fighters left and right. Just a few minutes ago she'd been injured and scared and certain she was going to die. She'd never felt so weak—so inadequate. But now she was back where she ought to be; brimming with fighting spirit and kicking the crap out of men much larger than her. Her tilted world had righted itself and she was feeling pretty good.

She took a moment to see what Gohan was up to and found him making short work of two gunmen. She was a little fearful for him at first when she saw them bearing down on him with semi-automatics, but he rushed them without batting an eyelid and knocked the guns from their hands as easily as if they were toddlers holding sticks. She watched him proceeded to knock one man out with an expertly delivered spinning hook kick to the side of his head which he followed up with a powerful roundhouse to the other's stomach. The men hadn't stood a chance. Just as she'd suspected, Gohan was a genius.

Gohan sensed her gaze and turned to wave at her with a grin. Videl waved back and was about to go to him when she saw a new opponent tromp up behind him. The man was enormous, at least seven foot, and he wielded a large, spiked club. "Gohan, behind you!" she called to him, pointing at the giant. Gohan looked over his shoulder in time to hop gracefully out of the way of the man's wicked-looking club. Videl abandoned her opponents and ran toward Gohan. She knew exactly how to deal with this troll of a man.

Gohan was clearly on her same wavelength, because just as she reached him, he cupped his hands together and held them out to her. She leapt up onto his palms and just as they'd practiced he hoisted her up into the air. The man had no time to react as she delivered a skull-cracking kick to the side of his head. She whirled around, still in the air, and found Gohan waiting below. She shared a smile with him and dropped down onto his raised palm, balancing on one leg as she raised her other knee up and spread her arms like a bird's wings.

The giant shook off her kick and raised his club to take a swing at her, but Videl was ready. She leapt over the swing and when she landed again, it was on both feet. She bent her knees and in turn Gohan bent his arms, both of their muscles coiling for the next strike. Just as the giant made to swing his club again, Gohan pushed hard and she was launched into the air again, this time sailing high above her opponent's head. Gohan swept a foot out and the man's legs, causing him to lose his balance and fall on his back and Videl quickly followed up his attack by letting gravity pull right down onto him, her two feet extended to deal maximum damage on impact.

The man was soundly put down by the blow and Videl smirked and tossed one of her pigtails over her shoulder at their victory.

Seeing the large man go down, the few opponents that remained appeared to lose their confidence. Suddenly, they were backing away, their faces full of fear. Even Rex didn't seem eager to jump back into the fray. He was staring at them with his jaw hanging slack. "These kids…they're monsters," she heard him say.

All of a sudden, Videl heard the distinct blaring of sirens. Just as Gohan had said, the police had arrived. The few men left standing swore and made the executive decision to cheese it, running into the trees. Rex made to follow but he didn't make it two meters before Gohan had him by the collar. "I don't think so, Mr. Rodney," he said to the man in that same dangerous voice he'd used before. "I've already told you what's going to happen to you. But don't worry. Your goons will join you before long. I'm going to see to it personally."

Rex gulped and gave up trying to struggle. It was an odd sight to see, watching a grown man be manhandled by an eleven-year-old, but Videl couldn't care about the oddness right at that moment. She was too busy being relieved that this whole hellish ordeal was finally over.

oO0Oo

* * *

At last, Gohan got a chance to shine a little. I'm sure everyone guessed that he would be the one to come to the rescue even if you didn't read my little love note at the end of the last chapter. That's just how it be in stories like this. Who am I to subvert a good trope?

As usual, I've got a couple new doodles for you. All in color this time! It's Inktober, baby!  
 **cabbage-foam. tumblr (dotcom) /post/178639129112/thirty-five-smiles-batch-4**

 **To Iwik:** He do! And a good thing, too, or that scene would've gone very differently. *shudders*


	9. Chapter Nine

Happy birthday to me! In the spirit of birthday goodwill, I gift to you the ninth chapter. Gosh, aren't I swell?

* * *

 **Chapter Nine**

"Oh, Videl! My darling angel!" Mr. Satan blubbered, holding his daughter tightly to his chest. All around them, red and blue lights flashed and officers were picking up bodies and loading them into cop cars but neither father nor daughter took any notice. "I was so worried when I received that ransom call! You're not hurt, are you? I swear to any god might be listening that I'll go to the prison myself and give that Rex Rodney a taste of my patented Satan Fist if he touched a hair on you!"

Videl smiled and patted her father's back. She was glad to be back with her father but she was a little embarrassed to be doted on in front of her friend. "Dad, I'm fine," she assured him. Over his shoulder, she shared a look with Gohan. She wasn't going to tell her dad about the condition she'd been in when Gohan had shown up. It wasn't worth the drama, especially since she was already perfectly healed.

Anyway, there was another conversation she wanted to have with her dad and it was much more important. "But I need to ask: where were you? Why did Gohan come in your place?"

Mr. Satan's body stiffened. Suddenly, his hands on her felt clammy. He cleared his throat a little awkwardly and said, "Oh, um, well… That's because…you see…"

"It was my idea."

Videl looked up from her dad back to Gohan. She raised an eyebrow at him, inviting him to explain.

"I convinced him to let me go as a distraction. The plan was for me to show up first in order to make Rex lower his guard and then Mr. Satan would jump him." He looked at her father then and smiled. "Right, Mr. Satan?"

Her father pulled away and nodded quickly. "T-That's right! I was gonna blast him away with my Megaton Punch! Hyah!" He made a show of punching the air several times in demonstration.

Videl frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "But if that was the plan, then why didn't you come out? You didn't show up until after Rex and his goons had been defeated."

"Ah, well…that's because…" He seemed to flounder for a moment and then his confidence returned and he said, "That's because I had to direct the police to the crime scene! You know how these mountain roads are. I had to stay on the phone with the police to help them navigate. We couldn't have them getting lost and not showing up until it was too late."

Videl hummed. She supposed that made sense. It was a good thing Gohan was a skilled fighter, though, otherwise they would have been in a lot of trouble. In fact, that brought her to another question she was hoping her dad would answer for her.

"But Dad, why Gohan? I'd think you'd want to bring one of your students instead. I mean, Gohan's just a kid. How did you know he wouldn't get pulverized?"

Once again, Mr. Satan didn't respond right away. Gohan opened his mouth as if to answer for him again, but this time, her dad raised his hand, motioning for him to stop. The champ inhaled a deep breath and then exhaled and said, in a much more serious tone, "That's because…" he paused and seemed to gather his resolve. "Gosh, I just can't keep this from you anymore. The truth is, I've seen Gohan fight before and I knew he could handle it."

Videl's eyebrows shot up. "You've seen Gohan fight?" She rounded on her friend and gave him a confused look. "But when would you have seen that? Gohan doesn't like to fight. Today was the first time I've ever seen him actually fight for real and I've known him for months."

Gohan shifted somewhat uncomfortably. The corners of his mouth tugged downward into a frown and he shook his head. "Mr. Satan, you don't have to—"

Her father held his hand up again. "No, it's only fair. If you're going to be Videl's friend, it's only right that she knows."

Videl looked back and forth between them feeling completely lost. "Know what?" she demanded. "Are either of you going to tell me what's going on here?"

Her father glanced around before speaking again. It seemed to Videl that he was checking to make sure nobody was listening in. When he was satisfied that the officers were all otherwise occupied, he said, "Videl, this boy—Gohan—is very strong. And I don't say that lightly. He might just be the strongest person on this planet."

Videl blinked. Was her dad joking with her? Was she supposed to laugh? She looked at Gohan for some kind of clue as to how to respond, but he was merely watching her and her father wordlessly. She looked back at her dad and shook her head slowly. "But Dad, _you're_ the strongest person on the planet. Gohan's good, but there's no way he's better than you."

To her amazement, Mr. Satan shook his head. "No, Videl. Your old man's a tough cookie, but your friend here is on a whole different level. I knew that if anyone could be trusted to bring you home safely, it was him."

Videl looked back at Gohan full of confusion and uncertainty. She'd never heard her dad talk like this before. He'd never admit that anyone could be stronger than him. Much less a kid from her school.

"You've never seen him fight like I have so you wouldn't know," he father continued, "but there's a time in every martial artist's life when they have to accept that there's someone out there they'll never be a match for, and for this old man, that person is Gohan."

Videl couldn't believe what she was hearing. If this was supposed to be a joke, it had been dragged on way past the point of being funny. What her dad was telling her was even more unbelievable than Gohan confessing that he was an alien.

"But…when in the world did you see Gohan fight? And why didn't you ever mention it before?"

Mr. Satan placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "You probably won't believe me unless I show you myself." He looked back at Gohan and motioned him toward one of the waiting cars with a nod. "Why don't you kids come back to the house with me. I've got something I think you'll both want to see."

o0o

* * *

Gohan looked like he was just as confused as she was when they arrived at Satan Manor and Mr. Satan led them to the room where he'd set up his home theater. He instructed them to sit on the large, black leather sofa, and as they watched he punched some number into the keypad of a safe hidden in the wall. The safe opened and the champ rummaged around inside for a moment before producing an unmarked DVD.

"What's that, Dad?" Videl asked as he popped the disk into the player and changed the input on the TV to connect the devices. The screen flickered to life and without even going to a menu first an image that Videl was sure the whole world was intimately familiar with appeared. It was a large stone ring just like the one at the World Martial Arts Tournament. And at the center stood a creature Videl still saw in her dreams sometimes.

"That's…Cell…!"

It was Gohan who spoke this time. His eyes were large and he was gripping the edge of his seat tight enough to make his knuckles turn white.

Mr. Satan nodded and picked up the remote that controlled the DVD player. "That's right. This here is the only raw, completely unedited footage that exists of the Cell Games. It was captured via satellite and I'm the only man who has ever seen it in its entirety."

Videl whipped her head away from the screen to look at her father. "But how did you get this? I thought footage of Cell's defeat didn't exist."

Mr. Satan said nothing. He merely pressed the fast forward button and Videl watched in triple time as her father showed up on the scene followed shortly by his two star pupils and the odd company of fake fighters who would put on a light show later. Her father continued to fast forward through the part where Cell knocked him into a mountain and then finally let the footage roll normally when the first of the fake fighters stepped into the ring. Videl remembered the orange-clad man. Cell had been oddly happy to see him.

Beside her, she heard the sound of leather crinkling. She turned her face to see Gohan watching the orange fighter with an expression that was clearly pained. Looking back at the man on the screen, Videl noticed for the first time that his hair and eye color matched Gohan's uncannily. Suddenly, realization hit her like a jetcopter. "Gohan, don't tell me that's your—"

"Dad," he breathed, confirming her suspicions. His eyes were still fixed on the screen and she could see hurt mixed with longing in them.

Videl suddenly had a very bad feeling about the fate of the man on the screen.

"I'm sorry, son," Mr. Satan spoke for the first time in minutes. "I know this must be difficult for you to watch. But I thought you'd like to see a little glimpse of your dad again."

When Videl looked back at Gohan again, she was shocked to see tears in his eyes. He was watching the orange man like a thirsty man watching a water fountain. He smiled a watery smile and brought a sleeve up to rub at his eyes. "Thank you."

Mr. Satan nodded and proceeded to skip forward again. Gohan's dad had a short match with Cell that Videl recalled from when she'd watched the games live, and then, suddenly, he was resigning and calling forward another fighter to challenge Cell in his place. Here, her dad slowed the footage again and Videl watched the fighters up on the cliff argue amongst themselves for a moment before one of them, a boy, shed the top part of his clothes and flew down into the ring. Videl remembered this, too. He was the kid the reporter had called the "delivery boy". They'd thought he'd been brought in to deliver snacks for the tournament. Everyone had been shocked when he'd challenged Cell himself.

The boy had a conversation with the orange man which Videl couldn't hear since the Satellite footage had no sound, but even without voices, Videl was fairly certain by this point that she knew who this boy was. Her suspicions were confirmed when the camera zoomed in on where they stood and she was able to get a good look at the challenger's face.

It was Gohan. Without a doubt. Videl had thought when she'd first met Gohan that she'd seen him before somewhere. Now she knew where.

"Gohan," she breathed, turning to him once again. "You were there that day. At the Cell Games. You fought that monster." She was telling herself as much as she was him. She felt as though she couldn't process the truth unless she spoke it aloud.

"He didn't just fight him, Videl. He beat him."

Videl whipped her head around to look back at her father. "Beat him? Gohan did?" She shook her head. There was no way she could believe that. First of all, there was just no way a child could have beaten Cell. It wasn't possible. And secondly, that would mean her father had lied.

"But we all saw Cell pummeling him. He was getting beaten to a pulp when the cameras cut off."

She looked at Gohan again and this time found him watching her silently. He wasn't making any move to defend himself and he wasn't confirming or denying what either of them were saying.

Mr. Satan shook his head and lifted the remote again. "Just watch."

He hit the fast forward button and once more the scene sped up. Just as Videl remembered, Cell and the boy on screen proceeded to fight a very one-sided fight in which the so-called 'delivery boy' got his ass handed to him. It was a very difficult thing to watch, seeing a boy her own age get tossed around like a ragdoll. Now knowing the boy was Gohan only made it worse.

Cell eventually seemed to grow tired of beating on Gohan and instead turned his attention to the fighters on the cliff. She watched the large, redheaded robot man grab Cell from behind and attempt to blow himself up, only to be blown up by Cell. She continued to watch in revulsion as Cell began spitting miniature versions of himself out of his tail. The mini Cells took off for the cliff and proceeded to terrorize the fake fighters. When Videl had first seen this, she'd thought Cell and the fakers had been putting on a show for the crowd, but now, witnessing Gohan clenching his teeth and glaring at the screen as if the people there were in real danger, she was beginning to believe she'd been mistaken.

The beating continued and the Gohan on screen could only watch in fear and anger as his friends were pulverized by Cell's progeny. He continued to stand there, seemingly immobilized, until her dad appeared on screen carrying the head of the busted android and threw it at his feet. The head was still operational even with the loss of its body and Videl saw its lips moving, speaking to Gohan. Cell stood nearby watching the exchange with an amused smirk. He said something Videl couldn't hear and then crushed the head under his foot.

Beside her, Gohan flinched and screwed his eyes shut. His shoulders were shaking. Videl placed a hand on his back. Whether what she was watching was tricks or reality, it was clearly a very bad memory for her friend.

The Gohan on screen screamed. She could see tears on his face and his body language spoke of terrible grief. As if in response to his screaming, the ground around him began shaking and breaking apart. Videl saw her dad duck for cover behind a rock and the cameraman get swept away as if by a violent wind. This would be when the video feed shut off and the whole world was left to wonder if they were all about to die. Videl had always wanted to see what happened after this point but she'd long given up hope of ever getting to. Her dad had been very insistent that no alternate footage existed. Now, she was getting her wish at last.

The satellite camera continued to roll, and when the wind and debris died down, there was a wide crater in the ground around Gohan. His tears were gone and in their place was an expression of such fury as Videl had never seen before. He was only there a moment, then he disappeared and in the next moment one of the mini Cells was being torn in half by his foot nearly fifty meters away. Videl watched with wide, unbelieving eyes as Gohan made short work of the rest of the mini Cells in a deadly calm manner.

The real Gohan was now watching the screen with a look of shock and borderline horror on his face. "Is that…really what I looked like?" he murmured, sounding like he was speaking to himself more than either of them.

When all the mini Cells were dead, the Gohan on screen turned his sights on the original. Videl could only look on in shock and wonder as he calmly and, dare she say almost cruelly, returned the beating Cell had given him tenfold. Videl might not be able to understand or follow all the weird light tricks they were using, but the difference in their power was clear. Cell, clearly panicking now, rose high into the sky and began charging another one of those lightshow attacks. His expression turned smug then, as if he thought this next attack would be sure to end his opponent. The fighters on the cliff began to visibly panic but Gohan kept his cool. She watched him mirror Cell's movements and then the screen was suddenly full of light and Videl had to turn her face away.

When the light faded, Gohan still stood in the same position completely unharmed, but Cell had lost an arm and a leg and was bleeding profusely where he hung in the air. Videl could only gape at the screen in amazement. There was no way Gohan had just blown two of Cell's limbs off with a light trick. As she worked to find some way to rationalize what she'd just seen, the Gohan on screen smiled up at Cell with eyes full of wicked glee. The expression looked all wrong on her friend's face. It was different from the expression of joy a martial artist wears while having a good match. This was a smile of arrogance coupled with bitter hatred. He was smiling because Cell was suffering; because he'd been the one to cause that suffering.

At this point, the orange man, Gohan's dad, yelled something to his son from the top of the cliff. Gohan turned his head to look at his dad and his lips moved in answer. From the orange man's expression and return shout, whatever Gohan had said to him hadn't been what he'd wanted to hear.

Videl nudged her friend to get his attention. "What did he say to you?"

When Gohan answered, his voice was thick with emotion. "He told me to hurry and finish Cell. I told him no."

Videl looked back at the screen. She watched Cell regenerate his lost limbs and go into a rage. His muscles visibly bulged and he returned to the ground and redoubled his assault on Gohan. Gohan merely dodged each blow as if they were the speed of mud and the assault ended when he delivered a powerful kick to Cell's gut that made him spit up a blonde-haired woman who Videl vaguely remembered seeing on the news before.

At the loss of the woman, Cell's appearance began to morph, changing dramatically. He grew less humanlike and more monstrous and he wore a look of fear like he knew he was going to lose.

Once again, that little sadistic smile appeared on Gohan's face as he stood before the now greatly weakened Cell. Videl thought they'd reached the end of the fight, but then Cell's body began morphing again, this time expanding as if he were a balloon being blown up by a pump. A look of victory appeared on the monster's face as he continued to expand to several times his original size. He spoke to Gohan then and a look of horror appeared on her friend's previously confident face. He fell to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground.

Before Videl could ask what was happening, Gohan took it upon himself to explain. "He turned himself into a living bomb. He was going to blow himself up and take the planet with him. I couldn't do anything without risking setting him off."

Videl wanted to ask how in the world they'd possibly escaped such a situation but she knew her question would be answered if she just continued to watch so that's what she did. She watched Gohan yell and shake and she could tell he was beating himself up for not finishing Cell when he had the chance. Then, suddenly, his dad was there, standing between his son and the bloated demon. Videl didn't know how he'd gotten there, but after all the crazy stunts she'd seen pulled so far in this battle she wasn't going to question it.

Gohan's dad had two fingers held to his forehead and the other hand rested on Cell's bulging body. He smiled at his son and said a few words to him and then his expression turned serious and he, along with Cell, abruptly vanished.

"That was the last time I saw him," Gohan spoke again, his voice cracking slightly. His hands were now gathered in his lap and he looked worn; small. "Dad sacrificed himself to get Cell off Earth before he exploded. He saved us all."

Videl couldn't say she understood the details, but she did understand that she'd just watched her friend's last moments with his father. She reached out and took Gohan's hand in hers, entwining their fingers in a gesture of support. She could only imagine what her friend was feeling being made to relive his dad's death like this. She tried to imagine watching her mom die all over again and the thought made her queasy. She never wanted to go through something like that ever again.

"So, that's how Cell was defeated?" she asked softly. "I-I had no idea."

Gohan shook his head. "No. My dad didn't survive the explosion, but Cell did."

He pointed back to the screen where the footage was still rolling and Videl saw that the fighters from the cliff had all gathered on the ground. A short bald man was helping Gohan to his feet. When he was finished with Gohan, the man moved to the blonde woman and lifted her into his arms. He appeared to have some kind of argument with another short man with spiky black hair and then the group made as if they were preparing to leave. Clearly, they, like her, believed the battle was over.

This was proven to be very much false when suddenly a beam of concentrated light shot out of the sky and straight through the chest of a young man with lavender-colored hair. The group watched in shock as their teammate fell to the ground and a pool of blood formed around him. Their faces turned to the sky and there Cell was, somehow back in his perfect form.

On screen, Gohan's teeth clenched and he took a step toward the hovering monster. Videl thought he was going to fly at Cell, but then the black-haired man who had argued with the bald man screamed and launched himself at Cell before Gohan could move. His hair turned from black to gold and he made to blast Cell into next week, but Cell batted him away as if he were nothing. His body went flying back into the ground and he hit the earth with enough force to leave a skid trail. Cell powered up a blast in his fingers and sent more light hurtling at the fallen fighter but then Gohan reacted, speeding to the man and throwing himself in front of the blast.

Videl sucked in a breath and covered her mouth with her free hand at the sight of the devastating explosion that followed. There were a long few moments when the scene was obscured by dust and smoke and then the air settled to reveal Gohan lying on top of the spiky-haired man. His clothes were shredded and he was covered in burns and scrapes and Videl would have suspected he was dead had he not in the next moment shakily pulled himself to his feet. His left arm dripped blood onto the dry ground. The appendage hung uselessly at his side, apparently unusable.

Despite the graveness of his injury, Gohan didn't back down. He stood in defiance all the while as Cell began to charge up another blast. The monster's arms moved in a familiar pattern and Videl knew that he was going in for the kill now. fifty meters away, Gohan once again followed suit, his lips moving in a chant that she could hear in her head even without the sound. Cell's beam shot out in a straight line directly at Gohan and Gohan released his own beam back at him. The twin beams met in the middle and a great dome of light formed between them as they dueled for the win.

The stalemate lasted a long time. Both fighters were giving it their all and while Cell appeared to have the upper hand, Gohan wasn't giving in. His body was covered in visible injuries and his arm was still leaking blood but he held his ground, fighting for the fate of the whole world. Just when it looked like Cell was going to overpower him, the other fighters from Gohan's team flew in and began launching a barrage of magical beams at Cell's back. Their assault gave Gohan the opening he needed and with a great cry, he gave his attack a final push and his beam overwhelmed Cell's. Videl could only watch in awe as Cell's body disintegrated before her eyes until nothing was left of him; not even dust.

Videl knew without a doubt that this time the battle was truly over. The light from the blast faded out and Gohan fell to the ground in a heap, his hair fading from blond to black in the same way that the spiky haired man's had previously turned from black to blond. She had absolutely no clue what the deal was with _that_ , but as curious as it was, it ranked far, far below the other much more pressing questions she had following the battle she'd just witnessed.

"That…" she said after a long silence in which she attempted to absorb everything she'd just seen, "that was all real, right? That wasn't some kind of crazy movie that was put together with Cell Games footage?"

Mr. Satan shook his head. He turned off the TV with a click of the remote. "What you saw there was one-hundred percent real, Videl. I couldn't believe it myself at the time and I witnessed the whole thing firsthand."

Videl looked between her dad and Gohan, feeling lost. "So, Gohan was really the one who defeated Cell that day?" She looked to Gohan for confirmation and he nodded. He looked uneasy, like he was scared of her reaction. Videl squeezed his hand to show that she believed him.

Looking back at her dad, she asked, "Then why did you tell everyone you did it? If Gohan was the one who saved us, the world should know. Why are you taking the credit? It doesn't make sense."

Mr. Satan looked uncomfortable. He sighed and scratched his head as he seemed to search for the words to answer her. "You see, Videl. At the time, I was very confused. I thought the fight I was watching was all staged—just a bunch of tricks. There was no way I could believe everything I was seeing was real, and when it was all over and the dust had cleared, Cell—and those fighters, too—they were all just gone. Like they'd never even been there. I had no idea what happened and suddenly I was being asked what became of Cell and I just panicked 'n said it was me. I figured nobody would believe me if I gave the truth and it wasn't like Gohan's lot stuck around for questioning." He sighed again and rubbed the back of his neck. "It was a shameful thing I did, taking the credit and glory for what your friend did, and I knew one day it would come back to bite me."

Videl's face scrunched up in anger. She couldn't believe what her dad was telling her. He'd lied to the world—told everyone that he was the hero who saved them all—and everything they had now, their mansion, their fame, their money; it was all thanks to that lie. She was confused and hurt and ashamed and she didn't know if she wanted to yell or to cry.

She didn't get the chance to do either because Gohan squeezed her hand, getting her attention, and said, "Videl, I don't mind. Actually, I prefer it this way. Even if he wasn't the one who beat Cell directly, your dad was still a hero that day. If he hadn't put himself in danger to deliver Android 16's head to me, I never would have been able to let go of my reservations and find the strength inside me to put Cell down."

Gohan was smiling and Videl didn't know how he was doing it. He didn't look mad at all about what her father had done, even though the fight her dad took credit for was the one that had taken his own dad from him along with another of his friends. She'd seen her friend be put through the emotional ringer on that TV screen and here he sat telling her that her dad deserved to accept all the credit for the battle he'd nearly killed himself to win. "But, Gohan," she protested. "Don't you think the world deserves to know who their real savior is? You could be living like a king instead of way out in the mountains. Your mom could have servants! If everyone knew the truth, you'd be set for life."

Gohan's smile faded. He shook his head and looked at her seriously. "I didn't fight Cell for glory or money. I did it to protect the people important to me." He looked up at her dad then and his smile returned. "Mr. Satan is doing a very important thing for the people of this world. He's giving them a face they can look to for guidance and reassurance. He's the kind of hero they need. I won't take that away from them."

Mr. Satan sniffed and Videl could hear a great deal of emotion in the sound. He walked around the back of the couch and placed a hand on the top of Gohan's head. "You're a good kid, son. No, you're the best I've ever met. I'm sorry about what I did and I'm sorry about what happened to your dad. I might not have the right to say this, but if you ever need anything at all, you can come to old Mr. Satan. I'll look after ya."

Gohan responded to her dad's promise by giving him a genuine smile and nodding. "Thank you. That's really kind of you."

Videl wanted to protest still but she held her tongue. Despite Gohan's reassurances, she still didn't think leaving things like this was completely fair, but as long as Gohan wasn't making a fuss about it she felt bad pushing the issue any more. To be honest, she was shocked at how well her dad and Gohan were getting along. There should be an ocean of hurt feelings between them but here they were acting as if they were suddenly best buddies. She didn't understand them at all.

What she _did_ know was that now she had more questions than ever. "Gohan," she got her friend's attention again. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly were all those light beams you and your friends were using. If they aren't tricks, then what are they?" She wanted to understand Gohan and the group of fighters she'd written off as fakers for all these months.

"Oh." Gohan unthreaded his fingers from hers and brought his hands up in front of him. His brow furrowed in concentration for a second and then, to the shock of both her and her father, a glowing orb appeared between them.

Mr. Satan's eyes popped nearly out of his head. "Magic! Sorcery!" he yelped, recoiling from the couch and holding his hands up to make a barrier between himself and the glowing light sphere.

Gohan laughed and shook his head. "It's not magic, it's energy." He held it up for her dad to see and when it was clear that it wasn't going to spontaneously combust, Mr. Satan crept back over and cautiously put his face near the orb to examine it closely.

"This is…energy? What?"

Gohan pulled his hands away from each other and the orb split into two, one hovering over each palm. "This is ki. It's the energy that exists within every living thing—people, animals, plants. A master martial artist can harness this energy and make it manifest physically." He closed his palms and the lights disappeared. "Even you could do it, Mr. Satan. It's just a matter of understanding how."

Mr. Satan scratched his chin contemplatively. "So, this energy…this ki… It comes from inside you?"

Gohan nodded. "That's right. It's a pure, natural force and it can be very destructive if you know how to use it."

The moment Gohan said anyone could use it, Videl decided immediately that she was going to learn. She would definitely master this _ki_ , no matter how long it took or how tough the training.

"What about flying?" she pressed, her excitement building. Was that also something she could learn to do?

Gohan laughed at the eagerness in her tone. "That's also done using ki. Instead of detonating it, you place it under yourself and let it lift you up. It's an easy thing once you get the hang of it."

Videl nearly squealed in excitement. She was absolutely, positively going to make Gohan teach her everything he knew about ki manipulation. Flying had been her dream ever since she was a little girl. She couldn't believe it was something humans could actually do.

"I'm guessing you're interested in learning," Gohan said, amusement thick in his voice. "How about you, Mr. Satan?"

Mr. Satan's face paled. "Who, me? Golly, I don't know if I'm really comfortable… I mean, that stuff's dangerous, right? Maybe it would be best if I didn't… Oh, but I do kind of want to try. Maybe just once…"

Gohan laughed at her dad's rambling. "We'll start slow. How about that? If you want, I'll teach the two of you together."

Videl shared a look with her father and the two of them nodded. Mr. Satan grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Well, shucks. If that's alright with you, Gohan."

Gohan nodded. "Of course. I'll be happy to teach you. We can start tomorrow."

Videl grinned broadly and pumped her fist in the air. "Alright! I can't wait." Turning back to Gohan, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I'm going to learn to fly! This is the coolest thing ever!"

Gohan patted her back with a chuckle. Behind him, Videl saw her dad reach out as if he wanted to separate them, but he shook his head and retracted it. This caused her smile to broaden. This was proof that her dad had accepted Gohan. She couldn't be happier for it.

It would take some time for Videl to fully come to terms with everything she'd seen on that screen, but just like her friendship with Gohan, it was something that she'd take one step at a time. She'd known when she took Gohan's hand that day three months ago that her world was going to change. She'd felt it as certainly as she knew that summer would change to fall. Nothing would ever be the same for her after the truths she'd learned today, but that was fine. She and her dad and Gohan would forge on together. There was no need to rush.

oO0Oo

* * *

Whew! That was a beast of a chapter. It was about twice as long as all the rest. Yay for you!

So, we've touched on a bunch of big things here. Gohan and Mr. Satan finally had a proper, on-screen conversation, Videl now knows the truth about the Cell Games, and Gohan got to relive his greatest mistake on his friend's dad's home theater. I sincerely hope I did that justice, btw. I know the whole Videl-watching-footage-of-the-Cell-Games cliché is kind of old and tired but I felt like it needed to happen. I wanted Mr. Satan to be the one to reveal the truth instead of Gohan because I think it's an important step in Mr. Satan's character development and it's better for Videl to hear the truth from her father.

There's just one more chapter after this. I'll be very sad to end this story because I've had a blast writing it and hearing from all of you about the things you liked as well as the things that you thought could have been done better. I'm really interested to hear what you thought of this chapter in particular since it was such an important one. Did it go the way you wanted? Did it make sense? Did I let you down horribly? Feel free to tell me your thoughts.

 **To Iwik** : It was a bit of a tough decision deciding how to write Videl's rescue in the last chapter. It would have been amazeballs to watch Gohan go mental on Rex and his thug brigade, but ultimately I decided that the fight needed to belong to Videl. If she were just to be rescued by Gohan after being put in a position where she felt so helpless and powerless it would have shattered her pride and confidence as a martial artist. I couldn't do that to her, even if it meant sacrificing a yummy platter of Gohan-brand slasher rage. As for how long Videl was kidnapped for, it was only about six or seven hours. As you said, there's no way Gohan would have let her be kidnapped for long.

 **To Snorby** : I absolutely agree with you about G/V fics being formulaic and that's why I wanted to do something a little different with this one. We've still got a bunch of the fun clichés, I just changed the recipe a bit. Gave it some zest. I guess you could consider this another universe in the DBZ multiverse. (One where Gohan actually becomes the main character after the Cell Saga. Boo, Toriyama. Boo.)


	10. Chapter Ten

This is it, my dudes. The final chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

 **Chapter Ten**

The class burst into applause as Videl and Gohan finished their demonstration. Today marked the end of their Phys Ed project and each pair was asked to present what they'd learned in front of the class.

Most of the presentations they'd watched had been major flops, proving their teacher's assertion that martial arts couldn't be learned without an instructor, but a few had been genuinely decent. Erasa and Sharpner had surprised the class by demonstrating a kung fu style based off salsa dancing and the two had awed their classmates with quick, flashy steps and lots of hip wagging.

When it came time for her and Gohan to present, they grinningly showed off their Soaring monkey style using a basketball hoop as a makeshift opponent. The class had oohed when Gohan sent her sailing high into the air and ahhed when she landed atop his raised hands. They finished their demonstration with a bow and their teacher clapped the loudest at their flawless execution of the techniques described in the book.

"Full marks!" he called over the hooting crowd. "Very well done!"

When the test was over and they were released to return to their classroom, Erasa and Sharpner rushed to congratulate them. "You guys, that was amazing!" Erasa squealed, clasping her hands in front of her. The small blonde had stars in her eyes.

Sharpner rounded on Gohan and slapped his back roughly. "Dude, that was the tightest thing I've ever seen! Why didn't tell me that you know kung fu? All this time I thought you were just a shrimpy bookworm, but you could pull of moves like _that_. No wonder Videl wanted to partner with you."

Gohan blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's not something I like to boast about," he mumbled bashfully.

Videl raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a smile. In the past month since her kidnapping, Gohan had made great leaps of progress in his training. He'd abandoned his oath not to fight and he and her dad had begun training together a few times a week after school. Her dad might not be as powerful as Gohan, but he knew a thing or two about technique and Gohan had shown a great deal of enthusiasm in learning new fighting styles from him. In no time at all, her friend had become his star-pupil. In return, Gohan had been teaching the two of them all about ki manipulation.

As if triggered by Sharpner and Erasa, Videl and Gohan found themselves suddenly surrounded by students praising their skills and asking questions about their training. The two were swept up in a mass interrogation that didn't end until their next teacher entered the room and called for quiet, having to slap her ruler on the chalkboard to be heard.

o0o

* * *

After school, for the first time since Videl's kidnapping, she and Gohan took the park route to her house. They walked side by side, discussing their day and what they'd learned in their classes. This time, Gohan didn't have his nose in a book, and when they reached the park, she was caught off guard when he abruptly and firmly grasped her hand.

"Gohan?" she questioned, raising a brow at her friend.

Gohan said nothing. He merely squeezed her hand more tightly and kept walking.

When they'd safely passed the park, Gohan relaxed his grip but didn't let go. Videl was a little confused by his abnormal behavior but she let him hold her hand without comment. Walking hand in hand was nice and her cheeks flushed just a little at the intimacy of the action.

As they neared her house, Videl suddenly remembered another question she'd meant to ask the boy walking beside her. It had been forgotten in all the excitement of learning about ki, but now seemed as good a time as ever to ask it. "Hey, Gohan, I forgot to ask before, but what was with the color changing hair in that footage we watched? That one guy's hair changed suddenly from black to gold, and after you beat Cell, I know I saw your hair changed to black. You never explained that."

Gohan blinked, seemingly caught off guard by her question, and turned look at her. "Oh, that." He scratched his head and gave her a strange half-smile. "I guess now that you've seen it, I don't have to hide it anymore."

Before Videl could wonder what he meant by that, Gohan's appearance suddenly changed right before her eyes. Just as she'd seen in the tape, the gold of his hair faded to black and his aquamarine eyes darkened to a deep onyx. Videl's jaw went slack in shock.

"What—what just …? How did you do that?" she demanded when she found her voice again.

The now raven-haired Gohan smiled and lifted a hand to his hair. "Actually, this is how I normally look. What you've seen up until now is a secondary form I'm able to adopt thanks to my Saiyan heritage. I only kept it up because that's the form I was using when you met me and I didn't want to confuse you." He scratched his head bashfully.

"Wait," she stopped him before he could confuse her any more. "So, you're saying that all this time you've been, like, in disguise?"

Gohan tilted his head and frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I wouldn't call it a disguise, exactly. It's still me. It's more of a mode?" He crossed his arms and looked at the ground. "I don't really know how to describe it."

Whatever the science was behind it, Gohan definitely looked different with his hair and eyes changed to black. He looked more like a normal kid and Videl found that actually a little comforting. It would take her a while to get used to seeing him like this, but even without the exotic coloring she was used to, this version of him was still strikingly handsome.

Not that she was going to tell him that.

"So, wait," she spoke again partly to move her thoughts away from that track, "if this is how you normally look, then why were you in that 'mode' when I met you in the woods?"

At her question, Gohan's expression seemed to dim somewhat. He looked back up at her and in his eyes she saw a ghost of the pain that had been there when his dad had disappeared along with Cell. Inwardly, she smacked herself for unknowingly asking a sensitive question again.

"I guess I was trying to be closer to dad," he said after a time. "That form is something that came from him and when I'm in it I feel a little like he's still with me. That day you found me, I was really missing him." His expression brightened then and his smile returned. "But you know what? Ever since I met you, I haven't had time to feel sad about dad. I'd been sinking into depression without realizing it but you pulled me out of it. I'm really grateful for that."

Videl blushed and looked away. She didn't know how to react when Gohan put her on the spot like this. If he kept talking like that, she was going to do something foolish like kiss him again and she'd have a much harder time explaining it away this time. "Don't mention it," she said somewhat awkwardly.

"I mean it, though," he persisted, much to her chagrin. "Every day I've spent with you has been the most fun I've ever had. You've even made martial arts enjoyable and I swore I'd never fight again unless it was to protect the people I love. You're like an angel sent to pick me up out of my slump and put me back on track."

Never before had Videl wanted to correct someone so fiercely. She wasn't an angel. Not in the slightest. If anyone was an angel, it was him. He was the savior of the world. He was their unsung messiah. She couldn't possibly accept him putting her on any kind of pedestal because as far as she was concerned no pedestal existed that was higher than his.

But instead of arguing with him, she instead zoned in on one of the statements he'd just made that caused her heart to speed up hopefully. "You said you'd only fight to protect the people you love…" she said, forcing her tone to remain neutral, "but you fought to protect me. Does that mean…that you love me, Gohan?"

There. It was out. It was probable that Gohan would take the question to mean platonically, but Videl wanted to hear his answer all the same. Her heart thumped in her chest in anticipation.

Gohan cocked his head to the side and studied her with large, innocent eyes. "Of course I do," he answered easily. "You're the best friend I've ever had."

Videl exhaled a put-upon sigh and shook her head. She knew that would be his answer. She didn't let that get her down, though. This was just another case of Gohan being Gohan and it only meant she'd need to be a little more forward to get what she wanted.

Well, no time like the present to get started, she decided. She didn't even care about explaining herself anymore. Giving Gohan a wry smile, she placed her hands on his shoulders, rose onto her tiptoes, and placed her mouth on his.

Gohan didn't fight her and she was allowed to hold the kiss for several seconds before she finally pulled away, dropping back onto her heels.

When she looked at his face again, Gohan's cheeks were pink and his eyes were fixed on hers. He opened his mouth, probably intending to ask her what that was for just like last time, but she didn't let him.

"Don't worry about it," she said breezily. "I just felt like doing it."

Videl might never have been in a relationship with anyone before, but she could tell that it was going to take lots of baby steps to get Gohan on the same page as her. That was okay, though. She really liked Gohan and she was willing to be patient.

No sooner had she finished this thought, she felt a pair of arms come around her waist and then Gohan was kissing her much more fiercely than she'd kissed him. He held her tightly and angled his mouth against hers for maximum smooshage. When he released her a moment later, he was smiling slyly. Now she was the one who wasn't given a chance to speak as he merely said, "So did I."

Videl spluttered. _That..! That conniving little…!_

Gohan grinned at her expression of disbelief and stuck his tongue out at her. Before she could react, he was already running in the direction of her house.

"Son Gohan!" she screeched after him. "You get back here this instant!" Without wasting another moment, she took off after him.

She wasn't certain just yet what she was going to do when she caught him, but she had a feeling Gohan wasn't going to mind too much.

o0o

* * *

"So," Krillin took it upon himself to break the silence that hung over the beach outside Kame House. "Gohan's taking lessons from Mr. Satan now. _That's_ a thing."

Way out in the distance, the speck that was their young, half-saiyan friend disappeared into a cloud. The boy in question had just left after joining Krillin, Bulma, Yamcha, Roshi, and to everyone's, surprise, Piccolo for a small barbecue. During that time, the bright-eyed youth had dropped the news that he'd begun training under none other than the world champion lauded for his victory against the terrible Cell, Hercule Satan.

The group had, quite understandably, been shocked. Bulma had slammed her palms on the table and cried, "Are you joking? _Mr. Satan?"_

The rest, including Krillin, had vocalized similar protests, everyone clamoring to ask what he was thinking becoming the pupil of a hack like Mr. Satan. After all, the man was so far beneath him that Gohan could probably send him flying with a sneeze.

In the face of his friends' protests, Gohan had just smiled and said, "Yeah, but he's actually really knowledgeable about martial arts. Did you know that he once spent a month training in Yunzabit Heights? He met a hermit up there who taught him a style of Kung Fu called the Descending Dragon and it's actually super amazing. There are so many incredible styles of martial arts out there that I didn't even know about. I want to study as many of them as I can."

He'd continued in that vein for the next ten minutes, enthusiastically talking about all the different kinds of training Mr. Satan had been through and how it was no wonder everyone looked up to him. Krillin and the rest could only listen slack-jawed as he waxed poetic about a man all of them had firmly believed was a nothing more than a loud-mouthed sham.

When the boy had bade them farewell at last, his friends waved him off in stunned silence. Nobody could believe what they'd just learned.

"Well," Piccolo responded when it looked like nobody else was going to, "it may not make sense to us, but it sounds like he's found his reason to fight again. That's what matters."

On Krillin's other side, Master Roshi scratched his chin. "The Descending Dragon Style, eh?" he spoke in his creaky old-man voice. "That would be old Hickory's work. I'd heard he'd taken an apprentice, but I never suspected it was Mr. Satan. The world really is full of surprises."

Suddenly, Bulma cursed and smacked her thigh, startling everyone gathered. "Dammit! I totally forgot to ask Gohan about that guy's daughter! That was my chance!"

Beside her, Yamcha's eyes widened and he said, "Oh, shoot, yeah!"

Krillin looked back and forth between them, confused. "Whose daughter? Mr. Satan's? What?"

Bulma's brows were pinched in frustration at herself. In her arms, baby Trunks made a confused gurgle. "Yeah. Gohan's been hanging out with her and I'm almost certain there's something going on between them." She shook her head and sighed. "Darn it. I was really looking forward to hounding him about it."

Krillin's reaction to Bulma's revelation was immediate. He took a surprised step backward and said, "Wait, Gohan's girlfriend is Mr. Satan's daughter?! No way! I don't believe it. You've got to be joking."

All around him, his friends all shook their heads and Yamcha said, "Nope. She's the one alright."

Krillin let out a cry of frustration and raised his arms to the sky. "Why am I _always_ the last one to find out about these things?"

o0o

* * *

 _El fin._

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(lol jk, there's a little more.)

* * *

Dappled sunlight filtered through the trees and onto Gohan's face as he stood on the grassy bank of the river near his house. This was the place he always felt the most connected to his dad and it had been a long while since he'd last visited it.

Today, though, he had a purpose for being here.

"Hey, Dad. It's me."

As always, the air around him was filled with the sounds of nature. Birds twittered in the trees and crickets chirped in the bushes and occasionally the tranquility was split by the sound of a dinosaur's cry.

"I know you're listening, so I just wanted to say a few things," he started, focusing his eyes on the cloudless blue sky. "Firstly, I know I've already said this, but I'm sorry for not killing Cell when you told me to. I let my pride control me and not a day's gone by that I haven't regretted it. I've blamed myself again and again, knowing that if I'd just done as you said, you'd still be here. Mom wouldn't have cried every night for a month and Goten would have a dad. I messed up in the worst way and there will be a part of myself that I'll hate until the day I die."

This was a speech he'd been rehearsing for some time now. Soon, it would be a year since the battle with Cell and he wanted—no, he _needed_ to get these feelings off his chest.

"But you know what? I've also realized something very important about myself in these past nine months, and that's that there's a part of me that's angry with you, too. What I'm going to say is going to sound harsh, but it's something that I believe needs to be said. For both our sakes.

"As much as I've hated myself for being the cause of your death, you also made me hate myself for not being enough for you. My whole life, all I wanted was to be with you, my father, but the number one thing in your heart was never me, or even mom. It's always been fighting. It took me all this time to finally come to terms with my anger about your decision not to come back. I didn't want to blame you because I knew you never meant to hurt us. But now I realize that I have to. I need to tell you how sad and upset and confused I felt in the months following your passing, trying to understand why you weren't here anymore. I want to move on and I know I won't be able to do that until I've addressed the feelings that are holding me back, so that's what I'm doing now. I want you to forgive me, and I also want to be able to forgive you. I hope that by airing my grievances to you like this I'll be able to make that happen."

Gohan paused to take a breath. He closed his eyes and inhaled the sweet summer air and then exhaled slowly.

"The second thing I wanted to tell you is that I've decided to stop punishing myself. I met someone who taught me that I can have my own goals for fighting and that I don't have to adhere to the Saiyan tradition of chasing rage and pain to make myself stronger. I'm going to combine my training with my studies and become a martial arts scholar. Fighting was always something I hated, but I still want to pursue it and find a way to take pleasure in it because it's something that came from you. Even if you're not here anymore, you'll always be an important part of me and I've decided not to run away from that."

The black-haired pre-teen smiled up at the sky. He hoped his dad was watching.

"The last thing I wanted to say is that even though I might not fully be there just yet, I'm going to be okay. _We're_ going to be okay. I want you to know that. You had the best intentions in mind when you made your decision to stay in the afterlife and I can accept that. I still miss you terribly, but I know that I'll see you again someday and at that time I'm excited to try again with you."

The summer air shifted and a breeze brought the smell of cooking to his nose. His mom would be finishing up dinner by now. He needed to get home and help with Goten.

"That's about all I have to say for now. I'll keep you updated on what's going on down here so make sure to pay attention, okay?"

His bit said, Gohan turned and began walking back up the embankment toward his home. Wherever his dad was now, Gohan was sure he'd heard every word. Goku would watch over them. And someday, maybe after he'd proven himself in some bigshot otherworld tournament or saved the multiverse or something, Gohan hoped he would be allowed to come back for a visit. Even if it was just for a day.

He had someone very important to introduce to him.

oO0Oo

* * *

 _Fin_ (for real)

I can't believe this story is actually over. What am I going to do with my life now that it's done? This is the first big writing project I've done since returning to the States after five years abroad and it's come to define my time here.

Most of you probably know by now the meaning behind the title. This wasn't just a Gohan/Videl story, it was a story about Gohan learning to forgive Goku and also himself and find his own way forward after what happened. I think that he was able to do that here. I've already mentioned to some of you that this story was a long time in coming for me. I first watched the Cell Games when I was twelve and since that time I've always been interested in Gohan and wanted to see him be actually affected by the Cell fight. Back then, I didn't have the writing skill or life experience to undertake that kind of project, but now I do and so I finally went for it. I'm truly glad that so many of you out there were able to enjoy this story and I can't tell you how pleased I am every time somebody tells me it resonated with them. My very first fanfiction was a G/V story and now, sixteen years later, I've come full circle.

To everyone who's taken the time to drop me a review along the way, thank you so much for your support. You've made this experience a treat for me. I don't know yet what my next project will be, but I hope Gohan and Videl will reappear sometime in the future.

Lastly, I have one more tiny doodle to drop on you. Go check it out.

 **cabbage-foam. tumblr (dotcom) /post/178767663937/one-last-doodle**


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